Gabriela Brodska with her husband

In this picture you can see me and my husband Ondrej Brodsky. The photo was taken in the year 1945 in Prague.

After the war I returned home and sadly didn't find anyone from my family. I wasn't at home long, about six weeks. I wanted to finish conservatory. I left for Prague and on the first day there met my husband. Fourteen days later I was married. And that's how my entire musical career came to an end.

My husband was named Ondrej Brodsky. He was also a Jew, but it meant absolutely nothing to him. He was born on 17th October 1911. There was an age difference of twelve and a half, thirteen years between us. That's how I wanted it. I didn't want some young guy who hadn't sowed his wild oats yet, whose main interest was parties. I couldn't pull myself together psychically from everything that had happened. I needed a man that would support me in all respects, who would be my mother, father, brother, husband, everything. I could only find this in a more mature man. My husband was 33 and was a soldier in the foreign legion.