OUR FINDINGS
ARNOŠT PACHNER, MD.
Arnošt Pachner, the eldest son of Josef and Barbora, was born on November 26, 1872, in Německý Brod. He studied at the Německý Brod high school between 1882 and 1891. He was probably not among the most diligent of the class. His friend, later to become a successful writer, Josef Jahoda, remembers in his book "Starý student vypravuje", or "Tales of an Old Student", Arnošt's frequent disputes with someone he refers to as Professor H., a latin teacher who didn't particularly like him. Arnošt reportedly decided to pay this uncomfortable teacher back by ordering several copies of every edition of "Ottův slovník naučný", a sizeable encyclopedia. The professor was delivered several heavy crates, and he refused to pay for them, not having ordered any. He started looking for the culprit of this prank, which didn't pose much of a problem once he obtained the order form - he recognised Arnošt's handwriting, which the latter made no effort of changing.
Arnošt and his younger brother Artur were inseparable and they did a lot of things together. They both loved science and had a large collection of shells at home, including latin labels. They also kept a bee hive and supplied their relatives with honey. Both brothers were avid readers from youth and they maintained this hobby throughout their lives. Arnošt was a year and a half older than Artur and intentionally failed a year towards the end of high school so that he could graduate highschool and study medicine in Prague, at Charles University, with his brother, which both of them achieved. Arnošt specialised as a dentist at the end of his studies. His office was on the second floor of his house, number 89 on the Německý Brod main square. He bought this building on January 10, 1906 for 32,200 Kč and modernised it that same year. The building was called the "Kadeřávkovský dům", for its previous owners. Alžběta, his daughter, became the owner of the building after the war along with her husband. It was torn down in 1977 because of the poor state it was in and today, there is a Česká pojišťovna building in its place, a bank.
According to the memoirs of František Langer, Arnošt had a marvelous reputation as a doctor. He was reportedly a gentle and educated person, a lover of literature and paintings. Just like other members of the family, he financially supported budding artists (such as Jan Zrzavý, Alfréd Justitz and Jaroslav Panuška). His manual aptitude was spectacular - he hand-crafted gold and silver jewellery. He owned a video camera and filmed his family and the city. He liked photography too. Allegedly, he even treated an aching tooth of writer Jaroslav Hašek in 1922, who resided in Lipnice nad Sázavou at the time. He is also remembered by painter Jan Zrzavý in his memoirs.
Arnošt married Elsa Reich, born July 29, 1879 in Všestary u Hradce Králové. They had three children - Anna, Marie and Alžběta.
Anna was born on January 31, 1901 and died March 8, 1925, probably from pneumonia. She attended the Německý Brod high school and started medical studies at Charles University in Prague.
Marie was born on May 24, 1902 in Německý Brod and died on August 5, 1995, in Prague. She attended the Německý Brod high school from 1913 through 1922. She married a dentist named Ota Egert, who had a dental office in Neměcký Brod till 1935 at 1 Dolní Street. The entire family moved to Prague after that. During the war, she divorced her husband in order to save their son and daughter and re-married him after the war. Marie survived Terezín - she was deported there on January 10, 1944, from Prague. Her thirteen-year-old daughter and one-and-a-half-year-old son were painstakingly looked after by her husband. This we know from rolled up messages Marie and Ota exchanged with the help of the Czech guards. In Terezín, Marie worked in a slate-flaking workshop. Ota Egert, MD., volunteered in May 1945 in Terezín to help with a typhus epidemic. He contracted a typhus infection which he didn't get rid of for some time afterwards.
Alžběta was born on March 11, 1909. She attended high school and later sold furnishings in the house of her father. She married a doctor of law, Vladimír Salač. Alžběta also survived Terezín - she was deported from Prague on January 25, 1943, and sadly, her son Ivan, born July 11, 1942, was deported with her. Fortunately for them, they avoided the fate of most Czech Jews and both lived to see the liberation of Terezín.
Arnošt and his wife were forced to leave Německý Brod after March, 1939. They moved to Prague, where both their married daughters lived at the time. Moving must have been very painful for them, which is indicated in the letters they wrote at the time. For example, on December 26, 1939, Arnošt wrote a letter to his friend Josef Jahoda, saying: "We were forced to move out of Brod. You know very well that we've lived and grown up there in five generations, most of whom you have personally known - both grandmothers, the parents, us, our children and our grandson. We would never leave Brod of our own free will, even though the children now live in Prague. The fact that we have been forced to makes it all the more bitter. You can easily imagine what it means to leave the warmth of your home, where you got used to every trinket and trifle, which you have obtained with love over the years. I don't even mention the material damage this causes us."
They had no idea that Prague wasn't the last stop. The Au1 transport on May 15, 1942 deported them to Terezín. From there, they were deported with the Bw transport on October 19, 1942 to Treblinka, Poland, where they both apparently died in the gas chambers on the day of their arrival. How wrong Arnošt was when he wrote in a letter smuggled out of Terezín just before being deported to Poland that "Poland is a country too, and it is possible to live there as well."...