The bullet missed her by inches as the Germans opened fire into the crowd welcoming the Soviet soldiers
Stáhnout obrázek
Marie Šandová was born on August 15, 1933 in Golčov Jeníkov. Her father Josef Husa was a retired chief constable, her mother Marie Šandová (maiden name Smutná) was a housewife. Josef Husa fought in the Czechoslovak legions in Russia. He fought many battles and walked the entire Trans-Siberian Railway to Vladivostok. Later he worked as a chief constable in Subcarpathian Russia. Marie Šandová lived her childhood during the Second World War. She remembers when their apartment was searched by the Gestapo. They were looking for a man her father had hidden in the cellar, and the day before the search, they moved him to another place. But the Gestapo almost discovered the anti-Nazi leaflets that her mother had distributed around the city. The Shands were friends with the Jewish inhabitants of Golčov Jeníkov. None of her Jewish friends returned after the war. At the end of the war, Marie Šandová experienced a dramatic scene when Czechs in Golčov Jeníkov were welcoming the Soviet liberators, and then a group of armed Germans arrived in the town and started shooting at the Soviet soldiers. Maria Šandová‘s life was saved by one man who pulled her to the ground, the bullets buried themselves in the wall above them. This was not the only similar situation, the retreating German soldiers also shot at children playing by the pond dam, among whom was Marie Šandová. After the communist takeover, the family had a difficult time, both of her uncles were imprisoned by the communists for alleged anti-state activities: membership in an anti-communist group. Despite her excellent academic results, Maria Šandová was not accepted to the gymnasium and had difficulty getting into teaching. Eventually she became a shop assistant and became the manager of a shop in Golčov Jeníkov. Later she moved with her husband, whom she had met at primary school and who was a professional soldier, to Plzeň, Most and finally to Mariánské Lázně, where she worked for a long time in a jewellery shop. She retired in 1988. In 2024 she was still living with her husband in Mariánské Lázně.
