Hedvika Heráková

Hed­vi­ka Her­ako­va’s first hus­band was tak­en [by trans­port on 28 Jan­u­ary 1944 (ed.)] togeth­er with their four-year-old son to a gyp­sy camp[1] where they both died. As she was in an advanced stage of preg­nan­cy, she her­self escaped the decreed trans­port from the vil­lage of Újezd where they had a house. She there­fore end­ed up in cus­tody in the prison of the police head­quar­ters in Brno, and was tak­en from there to the munic­i­pal mater­ni­ty hos­pi­tal. After giv­ing birth[2], she was again tak­en to prison and after a month she was released with her new-born son. She says that her son thus twice saved her from suf­fer­ing, and per­haps even from death. She named him Ivan after the Red Army sol­diers who were already approach­ing and bring­ing with them the hope of rescue.

[1] It is not stat­ed where.

[2] On 17 Feb­ru­ary 1944. (ed.)