Božena Vodrážková, neé Brožová

Božena Vodrážková, née Brožová, was born in Prague in 1923. Her father Josef Kalous died when she was a little girl, and her mother then served on farms in various villages in Central Bohemia: in Stehelčeves, Makotřasy, and eventually in Lidice. She had a relationship with Russian emigrant Vasil Generalov. In 1942, Božena Vodrážková met the same fate as the other inhabitants of Lidice. She and her mother were deported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp and her stepfather was shot together with other men from Lidice. Her brother was not registered in Lidice; he lived in Germany at that time, and he thus evaded the tragedy. In the concentration camp, Božena Vodrážková joined a group of imprisoned women who were Jehovah's Witnesses and she became a believer in this Christina church. After the war she returned to Kladno and later also to the reconstructed village of Lidice. She worked there as a gardener and she brought up two sons. At present she lives in Kladno.

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