Česky
Albertina Farská, née Lang, was born in Vienna on 5 June 1921 into the family of a Jewish merchant. Albertina considers the Viennese period of her life very happy until the moment when Austria was forcibly annexed to Hitler's Germany. After the hysteria of anti-Semitism, her family fled to Prague, where they planned to emigrate to England. However, only her father managed to leave there, while her mother, Albertina and her sister were taken to Terezín. In the Terezín ghetto, Albertina Lang married Josef Frankenbusch. While her husband initially remained in the ghetto, Albertina, her mother and sister were assigned to a transport to Auschwitz. Both mother and sister perished in the gas chambers. After the war, the couple changed their surname to Farsky because they still felt the threat of violent anti-Semitism in the post-war republic. Two sons were soon born to them and they concentrated on their private life in seclusion.
"I survived the concentration camp and the death march, and I often ask myself why I am still here, where I get the strength," Albertina tells us in her hospital room. The day before, she had been visited by her grandson Lukáš, a gynaecologist who lives in Germany with his family. "He was very amazed at the standard of this hospital. He praised the beautiful environment and the organisation of medical care," says Mrs Albertina to Milena Kolářová, MD, Deputy Head of the Rehabilitation Centre. "I am here for rehabilitation after a broken neck. I am already starting to try walking with crutches in the corridors or in the park. Everyone is nice to me and very attentive. Especially I have to thank Chrise Tavanjis, MD, who takes care of me like my own mother," adds Albertina, who will celebrate her 97th birthday in RN Beroun in a week.
