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Looking for a Filmmaker
- Category: Other
- Before they are all gone, it is my dream to see a documentary with Czech children (now middle-aged) of former non-communist and communist political prisoners from the 1950s, exchanging their stories in front of the camera. It could help to gain insight into their unresolved pain and anger related to the past by the opportunity to listen to the pain of the “other.”
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CHILDREN of STALINISM – The consequences of their parents' imprisonment
- Category: Children of the Others
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The documentaries Children of Stalinism for Czech TV depict the consequences on these children of their parents’ imprisonment. The following is a commentary on two opposing points of view.
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One memory – one life
- Category: The Daughters' Stories
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I would like to show how one memory in life might become the meaning of life.
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From the Farewell Letter
- Category: The Daughters' Stories
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My beloved mother, my dear children (his wife, father and brothers were in prison at the time, being tortured by interrogators),
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Golden Star Award 2008
- Category: The Daughters' Stories
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‘IF I AM NOT FOR MYSELF, WHO WILL BE FOR ME? ’
- Category: Other
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Trauma and Identity
by Gaby Glassman
(Excerpt)
Introduction
This paper will address some aspects of trauma and look at how trauma has affected four types of survivor in various ways:
- Current refugee and asylum seekers;
- Jewish women during the Holocaust;
- Hidden children; and
- Survivors of terror under communism.
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The Mother of One of Our Daughters Has Died
- Category: The Daughters' Stories
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When I received a note this morning that Jana Svehlova’s mother, Mrs. Eleonora Roubik (Lola), had died, I experienced severe pain, the kind that is felt physically and emotionally. It is a pain that I felt for the mothers of all the daughters of
political
prisoners. Suddenly, I realized what our mothers, mommies, moms were capable of doing for us—during those infamous
1950s—when they had to take care of just about everything. To bring us up as ethical human beings, to feed us, to clothe us, but not
just that—they had to make sure we would not forget our fathers who were in prisons…Often, we did not show our mothers much gratitude. As daughters, perhaps we felt closer to our fathers. But we better not forget that the fundamental care we received was from our mothers.
I am sorry that I met Mrs. Roubik only last year, even though I knew about her from talks with a friend already in the mid-1980s. She was a woman with a strong will, a sense of humor, and a love for knowledge. I think she was a very good mother to Jana Svehlova. I am drinking to her with white wine from the Rhine Valley. I hope that, from wherever she is, she is smiling back at me.
Writer: Zuzana Vittvarova
Translation: Jana Svehlova
Editing: JoAnn M. Cooper
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Letter e-mailed to the Editor: The New York Times
- Category: The Daughters' Stories
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“Memo From Prague — 3 Czech Friends, Cast as Heroes and as Murderers” by Dan Bilefsky (June 2, 2008)
And what about those left behind?
by Jana Svehlova
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Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism
- Category: The Daughters' Stories
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June 3rd, 2008, Prague, Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic
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Teacher of the Year
- Category: Other
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By Jana Svehlova
My friend, a gynecologist who specialized in treatment of ovarian cancer, once said: “I influence lives of just a few women, but teachers influence so many lives.” How true when it comes to Hana Duskova, a history professor at a High School in the historical city Hradec Kralove.
Hana Duskova was teaching history during the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. She is still teaching history in the post communist Czech Republic. Not an easy task. The winners write history. What was considered good under communism is considered bad now, and vice versa.