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The more I'm around Professor P., the more she amazes me. Czech class today was culture day, and she tol dus many stories about mushrooms and the giant Stalin statue in Prague. About how after Chernobyl, the mushrooms were so large and amazing and how scary that was.
I learned today that she and her family fled the Communists in 1979. She didn't say much about it, and it seems like it's a painful long story. Asides about refugee camps in Germany and horrible living conditions. She came to America in 1980, when she was 18. She couldn't go back until 1991, as she was branded a traitor and sentenced to prison. (Apparently only a few years ago was the prison sentence cancelled!)
Professor P. told us that on the flight to America, there were two young Czech soldiers, who had run across the border to Germany. They were so frightened and relieved to be on the plane, that one kept joking, "The only terrible thing that could happen is if the plane went down and a Soviet ship rescued us." Apparently these soldiers, friends, had escaped unexpectedly. One night when the supervisor wasn't paying attention, one soldier made a break for it. The other realized that he would either have to shoot his friend, or be shot by the other soldiers for not shooting. So without thinking, he just bolted right after him through a minefield and over a fence in a dead zone of barbed wire and emptiness. Can you imagine being nineteen years old and running for your life?
She mentioned also that her father had been interrogated several times by the Czech secret police in the years before they fled, and that he has never spoken of it. The Czech secret police were notorious for being stricter than the Soviets, and using Stalin's methods. They interrogated her father under a potrait of Stalin in the 1970s.
I forget sometimes how lucky I am to live in a country where I can walk down the street saying whatever I want. I take it for granted. Professor P. certainly doesn't. This woman amazes me. To go from living in a rough neighborhood in Communist Prague, fleeing the country and going to America, to being a sucessful academic, a wife, a mother... If I am anywhere near as fascinating as this woman one day I will be happy.
I learned today that she and her family fled the Communists in 1979. She didn't say much about it, and it seems like it's a painful long story. Asides about refugee camps in Germany and horrible living conditions. She came to America in 1980, when she was 18. She couldn't go back until 1991, as she was branded a traitor and sentenced to prison. (Apparently only a few years ago was the prison sentence cancelled!)
Professor P. told us that on the flight to America, there were two young Czech soldiers, who had run across the border to Germany. They were so frightened and relieved to be on the plane, that one kept joking, "The only terrible thing that could happen is if the plane went down and a Soviet ship rescued us." Apparently these soldiers, friends, had escaped unexpectedly. One night when the supervisor wasn't paying attention, one soldier made a break for it. The other realized that he would either have to shoot his friend, or be shot by the other soldiers for not shooting. So without thinking, he just bolted right after him through a minefield and over a fence in a dead zone of barbed wire and emptiness. Can you imagine being nineteen years old and running for your life?
She mentioned also that her father had been interrogated several times by the Czech secret police in the years before they fled, and that he has never spoken of it. The Czech secret police were notorious for being stricter than the Soviets, and using Stalin's methods. They interrogated her father under a potrait of Stalin in the 1970s.
I forget sometimes how lucky I am to live in a country where I can walk down the street saying whatever I want. I take it for granted. Professor P. certainly doesn't. This woman amazes me. To go from living in a rough neighborhood in Communist Prague, fleeing the country and going to America, to being a sucessful academic, a wife, a mother... If I am anywhere near as fascinating as this woman one day I will be happy.
