In the Morning We Played Quartet: Diary of a Young Czechoslovak, 1945–1948

By Václav Polívka

Vclav Polvka (1927-1971) was born into Czechoslovakias elite, roughly eight years after the country emerged from the ruins of Austria-Hungary. In this diary, which was found in an attic in Oslo, Norway in 2012, the young medical student with a strong interest in classical music describes three crucial years for Europe, which, beginning in 1945, was moving from World War with Nazi occupation to Cold War with communist dictatorship.

In the summers of 1946 and 1947, Vclav travels to Denmark, where he meets a young Danish woman, Vibeke Hauer, with whom he falls in love, and later marries. In this respect, Vclav Polivkas diary is a Czech-Nordic love story with a happy ending.

But Czechoslovakia would not enjoy such good fortune. Almost immediately after the country was liberated, Polvka expresses his doubts about the intentions of the Russians. He realizes early on that indoctrination, censorship, and outright lies do not bode well for the future of freedom, and he shares his thoughts with surprising clarity in the pages of his diary.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abbott Press
• Release date: May 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781458215864

Václav Polívka

Václav Polívka was born in Czechoslovakia in 1927. After the Communist takeover in 1948, he immigrated to Scandinavia. He settled in Norway, where he completed his medical studies and worked as a physician until his premature death in 1971.

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Copyright © 2014 Kristine Hauer Århus and Martin Hauer-Jensen.

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ISBN: 978-1-4582-1585-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4582-1587-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4582-1586-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014907943

Abbott Press rev. date: 05/22/2014

Contents

Introduction

1945

1946

Travel Diary

Back in Prague

1947

Over Eleven Weeks Abroad

Back in Czechoslovakia

1948

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

Endnotes

Introduction

Václav Polívka (1927–1971) was born into Czechoslovakia’s elite, roughly eight years after the country emerged from the ruins of Austria-Hungary.

His father – also named Václav – was a senior official at the government chancellery, while his mother, Marie, had won renown as a philologist and translator of Danish and Norwegian literature. As a clear sign of the Polívka family’s close ties to the centre of power, young Václav grew up in a house within Prague’s majestic Castle district, where Czechs from relatively humble circumstances in 1918 replaced the German-speaking upper class who had ruled Bohemia and Moravia since 1526. This was as close as one could get to an aristocratic title in Masaryk’s Czechoslovak Republic.

In this diary, which was found in an attic in Oslo, Norway, in 2012, Václav Polívka describes a mere three years of his life. Yet they are three crucial years, both for the young medical student and for Europe, which is moving from World War to Cold War.

In the spring of 1945 Prague is the last capital in Central Europe under German occupation, and the city’s inhabitants live in intense fear of suffering the same grisly fate as Warsaw. But neither bombings nor terror can prevent Václav from cultivating his consuming passion: classical music. Not only does Václav attend concerts several times a week; he is himself a very competent pianist and student of the legendary pedagogue Václav Holzknecht. He also plays the cello and occasionally composes works for the quartet he has established. As a reviewer for the newspaper Mladá Fronta, Václav knows everybody of importance in Czech musical life. Several of his music friends, among them the Germanist Rio Preisner and the pianist Pavel Štěpán, later left their mark on Czechoslovak culture.

Through his mother, Marie, who was active in the Scandinavian milieu in Prague, Václav acquired early on a personal relationship with the Nordic countries. In the first post-war years, the home shared by Václav and his mother (his father passed away in 1941) in Jiřská Street became a natural meeting point for Scandinavians in Prague. In the summer of 1946, Václav went with his inseparable friend and fellow student Jaroslav Jarda Přenosil on a nearly two-month-long trip to Denmark. The stay at the International People’s College in Elsinore, which he repeated the following year, produced a number of amusing comments about how a young and ironic representative of the Czech cultural elite regards Scandinavia. It was also in Elsinore that Václav meets a young Danish woman, Vibeke Hauer, with whom he falls head over heels in love, and later starts a family. In this respect, Václav Polívka’s diary is a Czech-Nordic love story with a happy ending.

However, it is as a commentator on the political developments in Czechoslovakia in the early years after the war that he reveals himself as an unusually perceptive observer.

Like the vast majority of Czechoslovakia’s population, Václav after the liberation is very excited about the Russians and the Soviet Union. But despite his young age and lack of political experience, he immediately senses the danger signals. How can the Communists create a just society when they simultaneously tolerate criminal acts? What kind of democracy is it that accepts indoctrination, censorship, and outright lies? Is an iron curtain really about to descend between Czechoslovakia and Western Europe? On the basis of a sober assessment of what he sees around him, Václav feels increasingly strong anxiety. When disaster becomes fact in February 1948, he is so depressed that the otherwise neat diary notes are barely legible.

Terje B. Englund

Prague, the Czech Republic, November 2013

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The house at the Prague Castle where Václav grew up.

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Václav playing cello in 1944.

1945

January 30         Tuesday

In the morning I practiced the piano, and then I spent some time in town. It’s blasted cold again, and a frozen wind is blowing.

After dinner Rio called and said he wanted the quartet to meet up. Also, I had to go and visit Nový, who was ill.

In the afternoon I had an appointment with Holzknecht; they had finally turned on the heating at the Conservatory. I played well, especially Auric.

* * *

The Russians have now also launched fierce attacks between Lake Balaton and the Danube. In Budapest there are clashes around the Castle. The Russians are enjoying successes from the Carpathian Mountains all the way to the Baltic Sea.

In the evening, Hitler made a speech on the radio (to mark the anniversary of January 30, 1933). The tone was different now from when he was boasting of all their conquests; he urged the Germans to fight on to the last moment and spoke again about the miracle that happened on July 20, 1944.¹ He said they would still prevail in the end, no matter where the fighting took place.

January 31         Wednesday

In the morning I was with Karel Masopust, and we played clarinet a little. They have absolutely no central heating and there’s no coke left, so this winter they will probably have no heating at all. There is a great shortage of coal. Several large factories are out of operation, electricity and gas are cut off periodically, and trams will allegedly stop running on Sundays (but that would mean factories must introduce a day off on Sundays).

Recently I have repeatedly felt an anxiety – or perhaps a needless fear? – of being hit by TB (the reason is that I have repeatedly felt a pain in my back as a result of the flu). These two letters inspire such a strong horror! In such moments one is overcome by an incomprehensible sadness.

In the evening, Mummy was on air raid duty, so I was at home alone. Alone with my thoughts. Alone? It may seem that the dark tone of this diary does not herald any good! May we be spared all evil!

* * *

The Russians have enjoyed new triumphs. They are now in Brandenburg (they have taken Landsberg, Meseritz, Schwiebus). Likewise they have been victorious along the Oder all the way to Glogau. Terrible things are being said about the transfer of prisoners from concentration camps.

February 1         Thursday

In the morning I picked up tickets for the Philharmonic Orchestra (with Pavel Štěpán), and then I went to meet Jarda in Dejvice.

In the afternoon I visited Nový. He lives in Radlice, near the train station. He has quite a nice music library. Now he is almost fully recovered; from next week he will play in the quartet again. He has had heart ailments stemming from angina.

The concert by the Radio Orchestra in the Smetana Hall was beautiful. They performed works by Otakar Ostrčil. The orchestra was playing the Legend of St. Zita and Calvary when this guy, just before the ending, suddenly walked up to the podium and interrupted them (they hadn’t got to Suite in C minor). "Please go to the shelter. There’s an air raid alert!" We went, full of irritation, to the cloakroom, but after only a little while, the siren ended.

It has been thawing since yesterday; the air is warm, and the snow is melting quickly. Everything flows, and there’s water and mud everywhere.

* * *

The Russians have reached the Oder, northwest of Kostřín [Küstrin] (i.e., about 60 km east of Berlin)! Significant victories elsewhere too! Breslau and Königsberg have been turned into fortresses!

February 2         Friday

In the morning I had a Latin lesson with Milan. He paid me for the last month (ten hours – two hundred crowns). I have fully recovered, except for a slight feeling of flu in my back.

In the evening Rio Preisner came to visit me. Afterwards I walked with him from the Castle to the tram.

* * *

Somewhere or other a conference is to be held between Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill, at which they will discuss the final assault against Hitler’s Germany. The Allies are advancing in Alsace, where the Germans are trying to organise a withdrawal.

February 3         Saturday

In the morning I went with Mummy to the tailor to try the altered clothes. Then I went to inquire whether I am entitled to tobacco rations.

The newspapers now consist of one sheet (two pages) only. Mummy went to visit Mrs. Žuvníčková, who tonight will go on a transport of Jews to Terezín! Her husband is upset (an official came to inform them about it yesterday), even though their marriage (because of him) was already in a poor state.

In the meantime, Slim had called on us. He left me a note in which he wrote that he had been called up on Monday to dig trenches. This is a scandal! Then Nový came on a short visit. He had talked with Slim at Klárov (we must have passed each other). From his factory, around sixty young men have been drafted! They will surely have their work cut out!

At 11.45 there was an air raid alert (one swathe of fighter planes northwest of Prague). It lasted for about a quarter hour.

At noon Jarda came to visit us. He said that Schmidt and Lumír are also among those who have been drafted from their factory to dig trenches. I wonder what will happen to the rest of the fellows from the other plants. Cesťa Stašek is sent on Technische Nothilfe to Humpolec; they travel daily to Německý Brod to build a factory in a tunnel. However, he has hopes of being sent back.

* * *

The Russian offensive on the Eastern Front has lost some of its momentum. It has been the toughest attack on Berlin so far.

February 6         Tuesday

In the evening the quartet met for the first time after a long time to play again. We played, among other things, Dumka and Rondino from my composition Winter Night Music. The boys quite liked it. If we could only have practiced it a bit more, it would have sounded really nice (but I didn’t dare to ask them, especially not Bejblík).

* * *

The Russians have penetrated beleaguered Poznań. They are also advancing southwest of Brzeg. In the west, the Anglo-Americans have launched a powerful offensive. In Alsace the Germans were caught off guard.

The conference between the three heads of state is in full swing, but we know nothing about it or the place where it is taking place.

February 8         Thursday

In the morning Nový and I spent over two hours at the library (the music department), but we found little to borrow.

The ice is melting; beautiful, warm weather.

I intend to compose some pieces for piano, perhaps an intermezzo. Today I started on the first piece; I think it will be good. I will dedicate it to Nový, who is my greatest musical friend.

February 9         Friday

In the morning I continued the work on Strange Interlude. I have been totally absorbed by my work on this piano piece.

Later, in the evening, Lida and I attended a beautiful concert by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition to Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, Pavel Štěpán performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in G Major. He played brilliantly (although I’m not particularly excited about the concerto itself), and then they performed Schubert’s Symphony No. 7 – simply amazing. During the break I persuaded Nový to come and play with the quartet on Sunday.

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Lída with her cute white fur hat, January 1945.

* * *

Yesterday, a major offensive began in the west!

February 11         Sunday

In the afternoon, the quartet met up to play. Zůna was also present. We played Beethoven and Dvořák, and then also my entire suite Winter Night Music. The other boys thought Dumka was the best, but in my opinion Rondino is better. And that was all because the suite didn’t make any more lasting impression, even though the piece in my opinion warrants more thorough rehearsal than just such disjointed playing because it would undoubtedly sound even more beautiful, although the others also enjoyed it as it was. I gave Strange Interlude to Nový.

* * *

The Russians have taken Liegnitz (Lehnice) and have reached Bober.

February 12         Monday

Today our maid Mařka got angry once again and accused me of ridiculing Czech music because I had laughed at some horrible oompah orchestra accompanying a duo that was performing folk songs. She claimed that she never hears music in our home – that is to say, Czech music – only German! But Radio Prague is broadcasting in German-Czech, and it’s not my fault that she isn’t listening when they are broadcasting in Czech; that said, the radio broadcasts so many awful programs that it really isn’t possible to have it turned on for more than one minute. The only other thing that could happen now is that we will have to listen to oompah music because of Mařka! She is a terrible woman, always complaining in such a rude tone!

I have started working on the draft of Sad Interlude.

In the afternoon I had a cello lesson (just a curiosity: last Sunday the Philharmonic Orchestra performed My Country for the first time in four years for the Anti-Bolshevik League. Zdeněk Němec, a member of the Philharmonic Orchestra and a contributor to České Slovo’s music column, published an enthusiastic review of the concert [how My Country always manages to lift the nation’s spirit in bad times, that it did just that during the First World War, and that the piece again inspired every true Czech this time around, etc.]. Two days later Němec was arrested, along with the censor, his colleagues from the music section, and the boss of the paper’s printing house, and after a further two days, Němec and three others were executed!)

* * *

The Russians have taken Bielsko and Moravian Ostrava. They are moving swiftly forward in Lower Silesia and have got as far as Sagan and Bunzlau (in the direction of Berlin) and Pomerania.

The Anglo-Americans have conquered Kleve.

February 13         Tuesday

In the morning I gave a lesson to Milan. He knew nothing.

I received a letter from Slim from somewhere in the Olomouc region. He wrote that they have been sent there to dig trenches – Lumír and probably also Schmidt are there too. This is slavery in New Europe!

In the afternoon it was lovely, hot weather; I accompanied Mummy to the library (she is currently working on some tales for the DP publishing house). Beautiful spring weather!

In the evening, just after we had gone to bed at 22.15, the air raid siren started. It lasted for more than a half hour. Mummy had to go on air raid duty (swathes of hostile aircraft northwest of Prague, just outside the city).

At 1.30 in the night another siren went off. Mummy had to return to the Castle, but I slept on, even though the anti-aircraft artillery boomed away powerfully. It lasted for about one and a half hours.

* * *

After six weeks of fighting, the Russians have captured Budapest; during the fighting 110,000 Germans were taken captive (the rest of the 300,000 soldiers have probably been killed). The conference between the three leaders in Yalta is over and they have released a communiqué stating that all nations have the right to decide about their own means of governance and that everything will be done to put an end to Europe’s sufferings as soon as possible; the war effort will accordingly be stepped up (which means that we can expect bombardments and similar attacks); if the Germans continue with their insane policy, the terms for an unconditional capitulation will be 100 per cent worse (plans have already been made to occupy and split Germany up). It is to be hoped that the Germans’ tyranny will soon be at an end, but the Poles (in London) are dissatisfied with the way in which the USSR is treating them. In Lower Silesia, the Russians have reached the Queis River. To Prague it’s no more than 130–140 kilometres!

February 14         Wednesday

Air raid on Prague!

A bright and beautiful day, very warm weather.

Around noon Nový came to visit us, we played four hands on the piano.

At 12.20 the air raid siren started. Soon afterwards airplanes roared over the city at low altitude; anti-aircraft guns followed, and probably also a number of explosions, until it was quiet again. (Twenty minutes later the radio announced: in the parts of the city that have been bombed, citizens must immediately help with the fire-fighting!). At 13.10 the alarm was over.

I went immediately to see what had happened. I could see several extensive fires (including at the Conservatory (!), at Smíchov, in Jinonice, in the area around Wilson Station, and also in other places). So now it has begun in earnest! I can only hope that we will get through this unharmed!

In the afternoon I called the Conservatory (to ask whether I would have my lesson), and they said that the building was on fire!

So today we experienced the first air raid on Prague. It was a relatively small attack, with few planes (they came in only one wave, and dropped light bombs), but they caused extensive damage and great confusion. Yet at the same time they didn’t hit anything of significance, just lots of residential blocks, etc. (a hospital, a maternity clinic, the Technical University, the Emauzy Church, Foch Avenue [now Schwerin Avenue] and others). There are apparently many dead and injured. What must it have looked like, for example, when 1,350 bombers and 900 fighter planes attacked Dresden today (they dropped bombs weighing up to one tonne)!

* * *

The Russians have taken several towns in Lower Silesia; also Schneidemühl.

February 17         Saturday

In the afternoon the quartet played together; in other words, all of us are alive and in good health, although the bombs landed just 200 metres from Bejblík (the Walter factories waited a long time until they let the workers go). But they didn’t manage to hit the factory itself. We played – in a slightly disorganised fashion (maybe because of my cold) – Beethoven and Dvořák.

February 18         Sunday

Today the victims of the air raid on Wednesday were buried; there were (officially) 413 dead, 88 missing, and around 1,500 injured! I am so afraid that something similar will happen to us!

* * *

The Allies have launched new attacks in the west. The Russians continue their attacks in Lower Silesia along the Neiße, the Wisla, and elsewhere.

The Supreme Commander of the Soviet army in the north, General Ivan Chernyakhovsky, has fallen. In the west the Allied offensive hasn’t made any particular progress.

February 21         Wednesday

In the morning I tried to get hold of anti-typhoid vaccine. Thanks to Mummy I acquired some tablets. I also visited the area around Charles Square that was hit during the air attack. Afterwards, I went to visit Jarda in Dejvice. He has been set to help clear up at Charles Square (the Jirásek clinic). He also found deceased people. He says it testifies to all the dreadful ways to die. In the morgue he had seen badly mutilated corpses of terrified people. It seems that the number of dead is higher than what has been officially stated (close to 500).

In the afternoon, Mr Vlček came to give me a cello lesson; today I was a bit cheeky, because I disagree with some of his views and, moreover, he forces me to play overly difficult pieces; however, I should have practiced more. But afterwards I was once again in musical ecstasy as I listened to Suk’s Fantasy and then – Janáček’s Sinfonietta!

* * *

The Russians are progressing towards the Gdańsk area. They are also moving forward in Lower Silesia, although now everywhere there are significant delays.

Very powerful Anglo-American attacks, including an attack on Berchtesgaden (Hitler’s residence).

February 22         Thursday

Today everybody from the school received a registered letter with instructions to immediately notify the headmaster’s office about the length, location, and type of forced labour service we have been required to undertake. This information is absolutely necessary to enable them to decide in which way we will have our Maturita graduation approved! In other words, there’s a risk that I will have to attend school or a course on my own (while all the others will just come to be informed about their homework assignments), and I may even have to take the Maturita final exam (while the other boys might get it automatically?)! This was really sad news! Well, we’ll see what comes of this. I replied that I, for health reasons, have been approved for eight hours of office work only daily, but so far I have not been engaged in labour service. How will they react to this?

February 23         Friday

In the morning I was in town. I was just walking down Kaprova Street when the air raid sirens started at 10.50. But I ran home and sought shelter with the Steigerwald family; it lasted for about an hour and a half.

At 13.15 there was a new alert, which lasted for around half an hour.

We have received a letter from Domažlice: at the railway station seven planes have bombed two locomotives in a train full of refugees. Elsewhere in Domažlice people were shot at while they were out of doors.

Uncle Rudla wrote from Kroměříž that they have registered more than thirty cases of epidemic typhus!

I have received a letter from Lumír. He writes that he has been put to fortification work in Brno. There was also a letter from Uncle Antonín in Leipzig. He’s quite well, except for the frequent air attacks (up to six times a day).

* * *

Turkey has declared war on Germany and Japan. The Anglo-Americans have launched a new offensive on the Roer front. The Russians are moving southwards (towards us!) and westwards through Lower Silesia.

February 24         Saturday

Today we received notification that Mrs Walterová, who originally hailed from Denmark and who had paid us several visits, died during the air raid on 14/2. She resided in Korunní Street and lived and breathed only for her two adult children. She was hit in the street.²*

Jarda has been called up to the digging works at Charles Square, but he shirks the duty as best he can.

In the afternoon I was in town for a while. Mummy was visiting the Walter family.

Afterwards Bejblík, Preisner and Zůna came for a visit; Preisner didn’t know if the factory would release him so that he can come and play with the quartet tomorrow.

Today I continued my work on Sad Interlude for piano, and in the evening I finished it.

* * *

The Czechoslovak government has moved from London via Moscow to Košice.

In Romania, there has been a kind of minor rebellion (!?).

A powerful Anglo-American offensive in Roer, they have taken Jülich.

February 25         Sunday

I started composing Sonatina for violin and piano, dedicated to Alois Bejblík. I made good progress with the first movement and the main theme.

At 13.15 the siren started up, it lasted for about ten minutes. Five minutes later, the sirens started again. This time it lasted for over twenty minutes.

In the afternoon Bejblík, Nový, Pavel Štěpán, Zůna, and Preisner visited me. We played a little as a quartet, then as a trio; Pavel performed Janáček’s Sonata for us, but we chatted and joked a lot as well. Bejblík liked the beginning of my Sonatina for violin.

Today I was amazed to discover that Pavel – with his glittering, stunning technique and musical memory – plays pretty badly when sight-reading; in chamber music, on the other hand, he behaves too much like a soloist, although his playing is fantastic (like for instance Janáček today)! And in other ways too he is a brilliant guy.

In the evening I listened with interest to the first performance of Iša Krejčí’s opera An Uproar in Efez; an exciting piece.

* * *

The Anglo-Americans have taken Düren.

February 27         Tuesday

In the afternoon I was at the Conservatory, but Holzknecht was not present. The surroundings are truly magnificent – several houses in ruins and broken windows everywhere; the Conservatory was hit by twenty-nine firebombs, but all of them were extinguished, so the building is otherwise intact.

February 28         Wednesday

Today I received a letter from the school with this wording: "Please come on Thursday March 1 at 15.00 to Křemencova Street to receive tasks. Artur Pavelka (the new headmaster, reportedly a snitch and German lover). Thus, I am caught up again. I wonder how this will end, when I haven’t done a thing in eight months, if I am the only one who is summoned, or if I will be there in the company of total strangers, etc.; I am especially afraid of the mathematics. This probably means that I also will have to take the Maturita (i.e., if the hostilities haven’t turned Prague into gravel by that time); the other boys who are called up for labour service will reportedly attend a course. Now, it’s back to the salt mines! Now, I’ll have to work and cram again!

March 1         Thursday

In the morning I went to pick up tickets for the Philharmonic Orchestra. I also bought a ticket for Mr Krammer on Thursday. He might be useful to me, for example with the mathematics. Afterwards, I went to say hello to Jarda in Dejvice.

At 11.20 the air raid sirens started. It lasted less than half an hour.

At 14.40 there was an air raid signal, which lasted around fifteen minutes.

In the afternoon I went to school, which has now moved to Křemencova Street. Along with Fiedler and Bernard from the old 7A class I am supposed to (if the conditions allow it) take the Maturita final exam! We have really become just ordinary Gymnasium students in eighth grade (the two others have not been called out to labour service – Bernard managed to be exempted from the Technische Nothilfe and Fiedler has something wrong with his lymph nodes). Every Thursday afternoon we will have a kind of preparatory course for the Maturita final exam; in addition, we’ll have to pass a mock exam prior to the Maturita, then written and oral graduation exams. The teachers were actually very appreciative of us (because of us, they are excused from various forms of labour service), and they assured us that it will not be all that difficult. Moreover, this headmaster, Artur Pavelka, seemed to be a relatively solid chap. It will in any case be a rather peculiar graduation exam.

Afterwards I visited Jarda. We spent a while at his home. He would also very much like to take the Maturita exam – he is so tired of the Luftschutz service. Today he was at the doctor to have his heart examined, and the doctor discovered that he had had pleurisy (probably recently) that had not cleared up. Therefore, he is easily out of breath, etc. This will certainly help him to be dismissed.

* * *

The Allied offensive in the west is now looking rather promising. They are positioned 8 km from Köln am Rhein, and they are also advancing elsewhere; a Russian offensive in Pomerania, Poznań has fallen after four weeks of siege.

March 3         Saturday

A cold windy day, occasionally it even snowed.

In the afternoon I visited Pavel Štěpán, together with Bejblík, Nový, and Preisner. We wanted to arrange a gramophone concert of French music, but the gramophone broke and we were unable to repair it, so we didn’t hear much of the planned concert. Instead, Pavel played some of Debussy’s Preludes, together with Jaromír he played Petite Suite and Capet’s enchanting works for really good children.

In the evening I completed the first part of my Sonatina for violin and piano, dedicated to Bejblík.

* * *

Today the newspapers published a speech that Goebbels made on Wednesday; the resolute and desperate tone seemed ridiculous.

March 4         Sunday

I forgot to write that Mařka yesterday staged one of her great leaving scenes etc., after she had first sparked a huge fight.

Today the newspaper printed this announcement:

Announcement

With reference to §9 of the Regulations issued by the German State Ministry of Bohemia and Moravia concerning the drafting of labourers to dig trenches in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia of January 4th 1945 (V B1 BM 1/45), and the authority which is entrusted in me, I hereby order that all male inhabitants of the Protectorate and persons without citizenship who were born in the period between January 1st 1927 and December 31st 1928, who reside or are staying in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and who do not have a labour book, are obliged to register in person at the Labour Office (or one of its branch offices) at their places of residence, respectively places of temporary residence, within March 8th. This announcement does not apply to persons born in 1927 or 1928 who hold a labour book.

Prague March 1st 1945

Dr. Dennier hon

Minister of Economy and Labour

Administration authorized by the Reich

So this applies to me. However, I hope that I can escape it thanks to the trepanation! Nevertheless, this means more worries, may luck be with me! On the other hand, you are usually exempted when you can point to something like trepanation – especially given that I have been found fit to do only office work. Therefore, I hope that my expectations are not too optimistic.

From today’s newspaper about the slave labour to which also I risk being drafted:

Replacement of Workers at the Trenches

P r a g u e, March 3rd (ČTK). In the coming days, workers who since the beginning of January have been put into service to dig trenches in Moravia will be replaced. If they have conscientiously carried out their duties and if they not will be needed in the construction of defence positions in the immediate surroundings of their home towns, they will be returned to their previous jobs. In their place younger cohorts will be called out in limited