In the footsteps of Jewish Brno

Brief Biography of the Witness

Bedřich Tauber was born into an ancient Jewish family in Pohořelice in 1907. He graduated from the Industrial and Technical School in Brno and lived in Blansko. After five years of acquaintance he married in 1935, his wife was not Jewish.

After the occupation, the couple were subjected to blackmail by her ex-husband, who felt the need to denounce his new partner to the Gestapo. So they preferred to divorce under false pretenses, also to protect the children. During the Nazi action for a Jew-free Blansko, Bedřich preferred to move in with his sister in Brno. Despite the official divorce, however, his wife and children refused to give him up; when he received a summons to be transported, his stepsons Zdenek and Milo built him a shelter in Blansko. Until the end of the war, he hid in the wall behind the closet of their house in Blansko.

For four and a half years, he only came out of his hiding place at night, for a few hours. After the liberation, he became a respected and sought-after accountant, and his expertise came in handy to the new rulers even after the communist takeover. However, he had to contend with persistent anti-Semitism on the part of Communist Party and Revolutionary Union officials. After the fall of the communist regime, despite his advanced age, he devoted himself to education for tolerance.

The interview was recorded on 14 February 1996 in Brno.


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