Special school

On a small hill in the foothills village of Malá Lhota, the school building that was once attended by children from the village is unmissable. The plaster is chipped and the boarded up windows prevent casual passersby from peeking inside. In a small classroom, into which no ray of sunshine penetrates, three rows of desks, a teacher's desk, a blackboard, an abacus and a large cabinet with books still clutter the space today. Anywhere else such a school would be abolished, but in Malá Lhota it still stands, silently reminiscent of a fateful event from 1958. It is called a special school. Not because teachers once imparted knowledge to students requiring special care, but because it has a peculiar past to remember. Nora Pátková, a thirty-year-old assertive woman, a graduate from the teacher's institute in Kroměříž, about whom no one actually knew why she had come here in the summer of 1948, was in charge of the students' education. Alžběta Ruppertová and her husband used to look after the children before that. However, it was not desirable for them to continue teaching. Mr. Ruppert became the janitor and died of a heart attack in 1952. Alžběta blamed everyone around that they had hurt him and were responsible for his premature departure. To keep her small flat in the building, she took over her husband's job and ensured the cleaning and maintenance of the school, which she didn't like very much. If a random visitor had arrived here the day after Easter, April 8th, 1958, shortly after half past ten, they would be surprised that there was no Czech lesson, but a deafening silence instead. In fact, there was not a soul in the classroom. Only a few sweaters in the corridor revealed that children had definitely been here. Where did the students Josefína Plánková, Jan Čermák, Terezie Krondlová, Františka Joštová, Bedřich Lončák and Růžena Hornová disappear to? And what had happened to the comrade teacher?