Page 33 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 11(2) (2023)

Figure 5: Civilians from barracks, picking flax 33
in the cooperative, n.d. around 1958
ti (source: Savas’ personal archive) 4

several years took in sick and injured politi-
cal refugees and their families.
ta existed in other countries, such as the town of
Těchonín is not unique; such places also

Bankia in Bulgaria (Kokkinou 2019, 122). What
di Figure 4: Savas’ family: his parents and his two is the interlocutor claiming through his text on
Těchonín other than to produce a trace of a res-
half-brothers, he and his sister in the barracks,
n.d. around 1957 (source: Savas’ personal archive)
idue of the refugees’ crossing through the East-
named Domov ČSČK (in the Czech lan- ern bloc, that is none other than memories and
photographs?
here House - Care Centre of the Czechoslovak Red is synonymous with producing part of the histo- remembering the former eastern bloc: who owns the legacy – the case of těchonín
guage Dům Červeného kříže - Centrum péče
If for Savas leaving a ‘remnant’ in Těchonín
Československého červeného kříže), Red Cross
ry of refugees in socialist countries, for us the de-
Cross as a convalescent home for refugees from
bris of this passage allows us to retrace, through
1950–1951 until 1962, when the barracks re-
testimony and photographs, part of the life of
turned to their original use, and refugees un-
refugees in the countries of Eastern Europe and
fit for work moved on to other towns. Among
ist Europe.
the tenants of Domov ČSČK was the family of
studiauniversitatis
Savas, who lived there between the ages of two a glimpse of their reception in so-called social-
5
On Site: Snapshots of Community Life
and seven (born in 1952), and today bears witness
to this place. In his unpublished memories dedi- In Techonin, the refugees were housed in the
cated to this period of his life in Těchonín, enti- soldiers’ dormitories, most of the them were
there alone, while those who were there with
tled ‘Těchonín, Memories of’, Savas (n.d.) notes their families had their own flats. This was the
that: case of Savas’ family, who lived with his parents
I wanted to write a few words about and sister in an equipped flat, the family of the
Těchonín (Tiechonín) because very little 4 Unpublished article, written in Czech, sent to me by the
contact person.
is known about it and I have found almost
5 The photographs and the account of the collective life of
nothing written about this place, which for refugees on the spot are taken from Savas’s.