They didn’t want a Czech priest

Priest Johannes John from Rejštejn took care of the German population of Horská Kvilda. He set up a chapel for them in an abandoned house near the school building. During his services, the windows were opened and the men stood outside because they wouldn’t fit inside the building. It was on a Saturday when Karel Fořt got a phone call from Father John, asking him if he could hold the Sunday Mass as well as all the other services in Horská Kvilda for him: “I wanted to ask him something but he hung up and no one would answer the phone anymore. As I found out later, they were just arresting him at that point because he had helped some people to flee across the border.” On Sunday, Father Fořt thus arrived at Horská Kvilda but found the chapel empty. He went to the pub and asked the innkeeper what was going on. “And he said: ‘oh, they’re not going to come to your service. They don’t like that their German priest is in jail and was replaced by a Czech,'” he recalled. The innkeeper then sent him to a local midwife who enjoyed great respect among the community of the Germans in Horská Kvilda. The old Klostermannová knew who he was but didn’t want to talk to him at first. He started to speak German to her and she then asked him: “Wann kommen Sie wieder? When will you come again?” “Next Sunday, but you have to come as well. Ja, wir kommen,” she said. Next Sunday, the chapel was crammed. Karel Fořt preached in German: “You’ve asked me: ‘Wer bist du? Well, I’m Czech, you know? And it’s just about the same crime like when you’re German.”