Lidice survivor Jaroslava Skleničková leaves behind a legacy of strength and courage
Her life story is a story of courage and survival. Jaroslava Skleničková was just 16 when she was sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp by the Nazis with her mother and older sister. Her father was executed, along with the other men from Lidice. Despite this terrible experience, which haunted her for the rest of her life, she found the strength to live a fulfilled life, marry, have children and help anyone in need. She died on September 27 at the age of 98, surrounded by her family.
It was a tragedy that resounded the world over. On June 10, 1942, the small central Bohemian village of Lidice was brutally razed to the ground by the Nazis in retaliation for the assassination of Nazi governor Reinhard Heydrich. The men and young boys were rounded up and shot in the village, the women were interned in the concentration camp in Ravensbrück and all but a handful of children selected for Germanization, were gassed. Jaroslava herself survived only because she had just turned sixteen and was sent with the adult women. This is how she remembers the hours leading up to the tragedy in her book titled “If I had been a boy, I would have been shot…”
“On Tuesday, 9th of June 1942, at nine o’clock in the evening, the Germans surrounded the whole village. They let everyone enter but no one leave. I was sleeping, aware of nothing, until Mummy woke me up about half past three in the morning, holding my clothes in her hands and urging me to get dressed quickly, that we had to go for two days to the school for interrogation. I got dressed and then, in the kitchen, I saw three soldiers, one of whom spoke Czech. He told my parents to take with them all the money they had, their savings books and jewels. I told myself how polite they were, so perhaps we should not think that they wanted to steal something. Mummy asked what about the animals – for we had a pig, several hens and ducks. He replied there was no need to worry. The animals would be looked after. So we left the house. At the gate, I stopped with Daddy. He kissed me and said: “God willing, we will see each other again Jaří, only never forget God.” His words were difficult for me to grasp, for we were definitely to return home in two days’ time.”
The reality was terrifyingly different. Her father was one of the 173 men and young boys who were rounded up and shot. All the houses in the village were set on fire and burnt to the ground. In total, 340 Lidice residents died. After the end of the war, 143 Lidice women and seventeen children returned home to face the extent of the disaster. In a 2010 interview for Radio Prague Jaroslava says it took her a long time to come to terms with the fact that her father was dead.
“I was convinced that my father would survive – a cook, I thought, would always be useful in a camp. He was healthy and strong. I was sure he’d come back. It was only when we arrived back home that relatives told me that he had died. It was awfully difficult getting back to civilian life. In June 1945 I saw the mass grave where my father was buried, but in August I was back at work in Prague, and found myself wandering around the streets in Prague, still looking for him. It was awful, the fact that he had gone.”
What she experienced in the camp left its mark on her wellbeing and physical health, but it did not break her. The presence of her mother and sister in the camp helped her to survive. Alongside the cruelty, hunger and hard work, her book describes the many extraordinary acts of kindness among the prisoners. After the war, she often recalled the strength of that support network in the camp saying that the sacrifice and heroism of the women in the camp later shaped her own life. "Throughout my life I have tried to behave as honestly, bravely and selflessly as they did," she said.
This determination remained with her throughout her life. She never hesitated to raise her voice in public and remind people that human dignity, freedom and democracy must be protected and nurtured.
Even in her old age, she retained an open, critical mind and an excellent memory, willingly participating in talks, giving interviews and meeting with students, so that her experience and the lessons of the past would not be forgotten. However speaking to Radio Prague’s David Vaughan in 2010, she said it had been a long time before she was able to talk about it.
“It wasn’t until I was 70 that I was first able to write down my memories for my children and grandchildren, because when I first came back from the camp I didn’t want to talk about it. But later, when I was 80, I saw how fascism was growing again here in the Czech Republic, and also abroad, in Germany, maybe even England. I felt we had to do something about it. My husband had the idea of publishing my memories as a book.”
Jaroslava published two books “If I had been a boy, I would have been shot…” and “Memories still weigh me down” which have become bestsellers and have been translated into many languages.
