"I know we wrote to the embassy and that it was with this Mr Čondl. He translated the letters we sent to America. And then they wrote to me and asked me why I was looking for him, whether it was for my inheritance or what... And we wrote back that I didn't want my inheritance, but that I would like to get to know him as my father. And for him to know me. And nothing came after that. But then it came back that he'd probably been contacted and if he'd agree to write or say something about me. And he said no. And if he turned it down, then unfortunately..."
"So they used to meet. He knew she was pregnant. So they planned their wedding for December, they had it all set. He was always asking her if she had her dress made yet, how it was going, he was worried about her. And then he had to go to Japan. They were sending him pictures to this address of his where his parents were probably getting it, because he hadn't been there yet. It's a mystery to me. He ended it by saying that he never liked her and that he didn't like her so that she would find a boyfriend who would be my surrogate father..."
"In the sixty-first year I joined Annín, where there were still mostly Germans. So I felt like... I didn't enjoy it. I loved drawing, I even won at drawing. But when I went there with my stepfather and everybody spoke German, I felt desperate. Because I thought that I was actually in Germany, that Annin didn't belong in Bohemia at all. And then a few people spoke. The leader was Mr. Trčán, he was Slovak. Some of the Germans spoke half Czech. I was in charge of Mr. Eichinger, who taught me. He was a German, but he was a sweet man, he actually taught me everything. We used to sing Czech songs together, which he used to sing. Well, he wasn't strict with me. [He used to say:] 'Don't worry, girl, you can do it!' And today I'm proud of it."
Sylva Puchingerová, maiden name Trnková, was born on March 27, 1946 in Sušice to Sylva Trnková and Sergeant George Saleský, an American soldier who liberated Sušice. Love was replaced by disappointment, the wedding was cancelled and Sylva Puchingerová never knew her father. Her mother had to earn money by working in a glove shop, so her daughter was brought up by her mother‘s parents Františka Trnková and Josef Trnka. The time spent with them in Dobříš and on trips around the area was the most joyful for Sylva. In 1948, her mother married Miroslav Kotál and they raised their son Miroslav together. Sylva Puchingerová grew up with her grandparents in Dobříš and at the cottage in Všenory until 1957, after the death of her beloved grandfather she moved with her grandmother to her mother and stepfather in Sušice. At the local Zdeněk Nejedlý Elementary School, she experienced accusations of being an illegitimate child and was afraid to go there. In Poděbrady, she trained as a glass grinder and, starting in 1961, worked for forty years until retirement at the Annín Glassworks. Adolf Puchinger also worked there, and she married him on October 17, 1964. Together, they raised three daughters. Over time, the family moved from Annín to Sušice. Sylva’s mother died in 1970, on her forty-third birthday. Sylva herself continued the futile search for her father. She read all the letters only a few years ago, always feeling a sense of resistance toward them. At the time of filming in 2025, she was living with her husband in Sušice.
From the left: aunt Růžena, mother's best friend, mother, grandmother, aunt Růžena's son Jára sitting below, mother's sister Alena's friend, aunt Alena, grandfather Josef
From the left: aunt Růžena, mother's best friend, mother, grandmother, aunt Růžena's son Jára sitting below, mother's sister Alena's friend, aunt Alena, grandfather Josef
My mother, my grandfather, my mother's best friend (sitting next to her) and other friends who got married in the USA; sitting among them is one of the grooms-to-be; the photo was taken by George Salesky at the swimming pool in Sušice
My mother, my grandfather, my mother's best friend (sitting next to her) and other friends who got married in the USA; sitting among them is one of the grooms-to-be; the photo was taken by George Salesky at the swimming pool in Sušice
