Eva Meislova with friends at a summer scout camp

This photo was taken in Cervena Recice before World War II when I was at a summer scout camp. I spent two weeks in this camp during my summer holidays. We slept in tents. We went on trips or to swim, we learned how to live in the wild and how to tie bundles. In the evening we had a campfire and sang songs. The girls and boys were staying separately in two different camps but close to each other. During the day and at the evening campfire boys and girls got together. The scout organisation was very popular and a lot of children were members. In addition to the summer camps we also had meetings during the year. The scout organisation was trying to promote the youth's relationship with nature, organising sports and games, hiking and camping, teaching practical skills, self-discipline and fellowship. I went with them to the summer camp two or three times but I stopped before they could exclude me because of my Jewish origin. I've never felt too much anti-Semitism. I just remember one incident: I was waiting at the doctor's and when it was my turn to go inside, I heard a fascist, a member of the Vlajka, screaming that as a Jew I should be waiting and be the last in the queue. After World War II this man was caught and put on trial. I know that because my husband went to see the trial. Later this man had serious health problems, and in the end he was visiting Jewish doctor! I was pretty good at sports. I was going to Rytmika, where we danced to the music. In winter I went skating and skiing, and I also went to Sokol for exercising. I finished the Czech school in Tabor. Then I attended gymnasium but I had to leave after the 5th grade, due to the fact that I was Jewish. I was the only Jew in our class. There were a few more Jews at school but not in my class. We had three elementary schools and two secondary schools in Tabor but no special Jewish school. Pupils attended the schools depending on their place of residence. I still visit our gymnasium class meetings today although I hadn't passed the school-leaving exam with my former classmates. They say it doesn't matter because they consider me one of them. Our class was a girls' class and all of them always behaved well towards me. I cannot complain about anything concerning anti-Semitism. My schoolmates didn't regard me as a Jew, and I never experienced any anti-Semitic acts from their side.