Helena (Richardis) Nováková

Helena Nováková was born December 3, 1928 in Rozseč near Nová Říše. Her father was a teacher. The family soon relocated and Helena began attending school in Malý Pěčín near Dačice. She then studied at Otakar Březina's Grammar School in Telč. The grammar school was closed down during the war, and she therefore went to continue her studies to Třebíč. She was also a member of the Orel sports movement. She remembers the circumstances of the Munich conference, the Czech-German relations in the Highlands region, and the first postwar days in Dačice. After the war she went to a convent, where she first taught physical education in the convent school. She also began studying the Pedagogical Faculty. In 1949 she received her nun's habit and name - Sister Richardis. The Boromei convent in Malá Strana in Prague was headed by Mother Superior Bohumila Žofie Langerová, who was arrested at the end of January 1952, with Father Josef Zvěřina. The trial took place in March 1952 in Brno. In her narration she mentions Father Josef Zvěřina, Father Oto Mádr, doctor Broj, chaplain Kubát, and many others. She also talks about the communist pressure against the Church. Sister Richardis was working in the hospital in Tábor, later she was transferred together with other sisters to a factory near Trutnov, (Texlen factory in Libeč). She worked there for 3 years. Later she helped as a housekeeper. In 1968 she attended a course for catechists in Olomouc. For some time she also lived in Moravské Budějovice, (St. Anthony House), and Znojmo, (Charity home Znojmo-Hradiště). She now lives in Prague.

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