Hedvika Žalská

“Czech barges sailed there – from Wittenberg and I don’t know where else from. They would go from Hamburg to Prague. One day, we were sailing in the rain, and a barge was overtaking us. I will never forget it. What a moment – as they were pushing forward, we saw a mast and a Czech flag on it. In Germany! We didn’t hear a word of Czech because we were quite far inland, yet suddenly, in the bad weather, in the rain – lo and behold! The boys ran out, we waved at them and said we were Czechs, and they asked where we were coming from. But we were quite far apart to chat, really. They said they were going to Prague, so we waved at them, and it was nice, kind of special. After that, I just sat thinking: ‘Now, who am I actually?’ It was such a strange moment for me: ‘Who are you? Are you a Czech, or a German?’ That was interesting.”

“Aunt said the trains were already waiting, and they were allowed to only bring luggage of certain weight with them. For example, it would be 25 kilos, or 50 kilos, though mostly just 25. My relatives were not among the very first to go, so they had big spacious sacks made: one of my uncles was a saddler and he made the sacks. They could put their stuff in them safely. That way, they passed the check. Yet, even after they had passed the check, the officials would sometimes take things from them, even if it was just 25 kilos all together, if they ‘deemed it fit’. So, it was not granted they would leave with 25 kilos of luggage. Some had to go straight away, like the woman who took our place. She was leaving with virtually nothing – with just a few kilos.”