Anttonia Barten - Bohemian Daughters Family Quest

Bohemian Daughters

Family Quest

Anttonia Barten

ISBN 978-1-7351812-0-2 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-7351812-1-9 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-7351812-2-6 (digital)

Copyright 2020 by Anttonia Barten

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

Prague Czech Republic, 19591968

Australia, 19681992

This book is dedicated to my grandmother and father.

My wish is that this book will help those who have gone through traumatic times.

Preface

L egend has it that a beautiful Slovakian Princess stood on a hill overlooking the Vltava River at the place known as Vychirad. The Princess said, A city known as Praha [Prague] will be built on this hill and surrounding area, and it will become famous. Prague was built in the ninth century, and its origin started from Vychirad and expanded. It is the historical capital of Bohemia.

The legend has come true, and after years of invasion and occupation by the Russians, Prague and the Czech Republic were part of the Eastern bloc. Today, it is prosperous, and tourists from all over the world visit Prague.

I was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1959. In 1968, when Czechoslovakia was invaded and occupied by the Russians and placed under communist rule, I was nine years old. My mother and stepfather took me to Australia without telling my father.

Whilst growing up in an oppressive war environment would have been difficult, if I stayed in Prague, I would have been with people who loved me, and I would have been in my homeland, I had no choice. I was only 9 years old; I had no say whether to stay in Prague or to being taken away to Australia. I was an inconvenience and a hindrance to my mother, and she watched and allowed the stepfather to abuse me. Being in Australia, which is a free country, made no difference as I was oppressed at home and treated as a slave. I kept thinking of my father in Prague and how to find him.

One of my passions were books. I started reading books at the age of approximately five. I found I could dissociate myself from my environment, by getting engrossed in a book. My other passion was and remains travel.

Prague is a very cultural city with museums, theatres, and libraries. Some of them are very old and house rare books. In Prague is Strahov Monastery, near Prague Castle. Strahov Library is the second-oldest church library in Bohemia with uninterrupted existence. The library has around 280,000 titles, of which 3,000 are manuscripts, and 1,500 are incunabula. The oldest manuscript is the Strahov Gospel , dated 860.

Strahov Library.

I attribute this work to giggle the author and thank him/them/they for his/their contribution.

The Czech Republic is a small country in the centre of Eastern Europe. For a small country it has an abundance of natural beauty. It has mineral resourcesincluding silver, gold, and plutoniumas well as mineral spas. There are forests, rivers, lakes, and mountains, as well as beautiful architecture, museums, theatres, and other treasures.

Germany invaded and occupied the Czech Republic before and after the Second World War. The Russian invasion and occupation began in August 1968 and lasted until approximately 1989. The Russians devastated Prague and stole many beautiful paintings, tapestries, gold, and many other treasures.

The Russians built horrible tower blocks, that were grey in color, and depressing, to house the Czech people. The Russian Communist regime, confiscated the Czech peoples homes, land, and nice flats and units to either live in them, including the soldiers, or to sell them. The concrete towers, known as the concrete jungle, the Czech people were forced to live in and had to pay rent to live in the concrete boxes.

Chapter 1

Russian Invasion and Occupation.

T he Russian invasion and occupation began in August 1968. I was nine years old and on the last day of summer camp in Bohemia, Czechoslovakia. I was awakened at approximately 5:00 a.m. by a droning sound and a lot of wheels screeching. It was like many cars but much louder. I came out of my tent and looked up to see what looked like hundreds of planes overhead. I had no idea what was going on but felt very frightened. Other children and teachers came out of their tents and saw and pointed at the planes. The noise of the screeching wheels intensified.

Our teacher told us to go to the canteen and have something to eat. I could see the fear in her face. We then got our things packed, and the tents were taken down. A bus collected us to return to Prague. As we went through a small town, we could see many soldiers with machine guns; they wore green fatigues, and on their hats were red stars. Our teacher told us they were Russian. Also, the screeching was from many, many tanks. At the small square where we were stopped were many Russian soldiers, tanks, and trucks.

Three Russian soldiers boarded our bus. Our teacher told us to hide under the seats and not to come out. The Russian soldiers pointed the machine guns at our heads. Our teacher became upset and told them to stop, saying they are only children . They laughed. Suddenly, one of the soldiers grabbed our teacher by her hair and dragged her off the bus. The soldiers shot her point-blank in the head, and she fell slumped to the ground. We all witnessed it and were screaming and crying. The bus driver took off, with the doors still open, and headed for Prague as fast as he could. He was crying and shaking.

When we arrived in Prague, my grandmother met me at the bus stop. There was a lot of commotion. People were screaming, crying, and running around. The fear on their faces was terrible. The Russian soldiers were everywhere with their machine guns and many tanks and trucks. The tanks tore up tram tracks, all you could see was smoke and sparks coming from the wheels. They wounded people for absolutely no reason. Many people could not understand why this was happening, and shock and fear were on many faces.

The soldiers in tanks and those with machine guns, shot-up buildings, leaving a spray of bullet holes, or large holes made by the tanks. Again, why they did this, was mind-boggling?

My grandmother took me home immediately and told me not to say anything or look at the soldiers along the way. I could not understand what was happening. I told my grandmother about my teacher being shot, and she cried. Everyone was in shock, because it happened so quickly, and no one was told what was going on.

Alexander Dubek held the seat of power at the time of the invasion. He lost his seat.

Downfall

On the night of 2021 August 1968, Warsaw Pact forces except Romania entered Czechoslovakia. The occupying armies quickly seized control of Prague and the Central Committees building, taking Dubek and other reformers into Soviet custody. But, before they were arrested, Dubek urged the people not to resist militarily, on the grounds that presenting a military defense would have meant exposing the Czech and Slovak peoples to a senseless bloodbath. Later in the day, Dubek and the others were taken to Moscow on a Soviet military transport aircraft (reportedly one used in the invasion). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Dubek#Downfall . Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License .