… research team members
The list of options we were given at the end of our 6th grade included a social sciences seminar. Mrs. Burdová, our teacher, explained to us that this would be a course during which we would study, collect and deal with the stories of Jews who disappeared. A group of sixteen pupils determined to search the past was formed.
At the beginning of September, we received a list of Litomyšl Jews who had been tortured to death. It had been compiled by Mrs. Markéta Freyová shortly after WWII. We started, individually or in groups, to visit people, asking them if they had known anybody on the list. This is how we gradually found out who we might turn to for help and our private research began.
We met Mrs. Bergmann, who told us little by little about her life with her husband Karel, a Jew. Her story is one of the happier ones and thanks to our research we also made friends with an amazing lady.
Radka used to visit a man, who died recently. Fortunately, her other two important eyewitnesses, Mrs. Dušková and Mrs. Skálová, still enjoy good health.
Tereza and Markéta chose to interview an ex-factory owner and a woman who was said to have survived concentration camp. While they made rapid progress at the beginning, they later struggled to finish their investigation.
Vašek comes from a village and did not know any of the older residents living in Litomyšl. His task was therefore to search the archives. Petr and Štěpán followed their story as far as to Prague.
There was a surprise waiting for Dominika: "I had never thought that I might have Jews in my family. In September I told my grandma Anna and grandpa Jiří that I was going to be studying Jews. Grandpa thought about what I had said and told me that his uncle had married a Jewish woman. I decided to find out more about his uncle's life. I learned a lot about it and I think that my family is proud of me."
Working on "The Neighbours Who Disappeared" project has been a great experience for all of us. We know we wouldn't have liked to have lived through anything like that.
We would really like to thank all those who helped us and shared their memories with today´s "young people", about whom they sometimes grumble.
Klára Nováková and Lenka Škeříková