Naše rodina aneb komunisty nemusím – Pekáriková Dagmar (2022)

On April 9, 1952, my grandfather Antonín Šikula was to celebrate his sixtieth birthday and retirement. Instead of a celebration in the family circle, he ended up in a communist prison for more than four years. Fortunately, he wrote everything down about his arrest, conviction, and time in prison. What the rest of the family experienced when grandfather was arrested and sentenced was recorded by his daughter and my aunt Vlasta. Their notes were my main motivation to write a book about our family's life during totalitarianism. However, my story begins during the war when my parents met, and I believe that after the war, they expected their lives to unfold quite differently. The rise of the communists and the totalitarian regime changed their visions of the future, as well as the fates and life paths of my relatives and acquaintances, which I also mention in the book. I took the liberty of writing about the search for the remains of Dr. Milada Horáková, executed by the communists in 1950, in which I participated. We were not heroes, nor did we have the opportunity and courage to leave the republic. Therefore, we had to live here and be part of the unfree forty years of our history. I believe that when you read the book, you will understand why I do not like the communists.