But we didn’t talk about such things when I was young – my grandma and my dad used to keep the silence so as we didn’t have any problems with the Communist regime. But when I was eight, I learnt that in Lesser Town, in Míšeňská Street, there were houses which used to belong to my family. At that time, we used to live in Garden City, in a block of flats and whenever we wanted to go to the city centre, we used to say that we went to Prague. I was a solitary child and so I packed my stuff one day and set off on a journey to Prague. There wasn’t even a metro at that time. But I found Lesser Town and I found Míšeňská Street. However, I had no idea which houses to look for. There were two ladies passing by and so I asked if they knew where was Mr. Demartini’s soap and perfume factory. And they told me: ‘Well, girl, of course we know that! There is Mr. Štěpánek’s place and right there on the opposite side, that whole block, it’s five houses, that was it.’ You can still see the old chimney. And they also told me: ‘He was a nice man – they referred to my great-granddad –, he really took good care of his employees!’ I felt very pleased. I went closer to the houses and when I was leaving, I remember stroking one. And that particular house we managed to save as the only one – we got it back in the restitution in 1998. When I heard the verdict of the court, I went to Olšany Cemetery to my ancestors’ grave. To tell them the news. I knew they would be pleased.”

“As a child I imagined having airy curtains – I must have see it in a fairy tale –, but the reality was far away. After the restitution, it took us ten years to achieve the settlement with the municipality regarding the sale of the second half of the house. We had to persuade them that we were serious. That we wanted to take care of the house. It was a ruin at that time which used to appear on the Internet as a shame of Prague. We didn’t have money for a renovation but it was my husband who decided to do as much as we could for the house. It still seems unbelievable but I’m fifty-two and I have a house which I stroked and which I furnished with airy curtains. My daughter opened a nice café in the courtyard for local people. It makes me happy. Because it doesn’t only matter that my kids have nice lives, what also matters is that they are able to work in this place. To be able to take care of the place and then pass it on. Because the family bond goes through history. And even though some people think that they die and that’s it, this bond goes back and forth in time.”