A broken sculpture of a woman who became a Second World War prisoner after being caught trying to flee the Nazis, is restored to its former beauty on tonight’s The Repair Shop.
The son of Věra Škodová becomes choked with tears as he sees the sculpture of his mother as a young woman finally pieced back together as it once was.
In the emotional scenes on the BBC One hit presented by Jay Blades, 73-year-old Martin Jochman brings in the smashed artwork, a precious connection to his artist mother and his childhood in what was then Czechoslovakia.
Martin, an architect from Bristol, hopes that the skills of expert Kirsten Ramsay can fix this memento that chronicles his late mother’s extraordinary life.
As a 27-year-old ceramics student in Czechoslovakia, Věra befriended a fellow student, the now renowned sculptor Miloš Axman, who made the Plaster-of-Paris study in 1947.
Martin says: “She was at art college in Zlín and he made the sculpture of my mother and gave it to her as a memory. She had a very colourful and interesting life, but also quite tragic.”
Before her studies, at the beginning of the Second World War when the Germans took over Czechoslovakia, Věra was sent to work in a munitions factory in Berlin.
Martin explains: “Young people were sent to work in factories. While there she planned with two male friends to escape to Switzerland. They took a train as far as the Swiss border but they were caught crossing the border.
“Her two friends were shot dead immediately. My mother was tried at Nuremberg and sentenced to life in prison. She was just 17 years old.
“She was lucky to go into prison rather than a concentration camp because they actually were looked after a little bit better. It wasn’t as horrendous as being in the extermination camps, so she survived the war in various prisons.
“She ended the war in Waldheim, a women’s prison near Dresden, Germany. I remember her talking about the allied carpet bombing of Dresden which was awful. From a distance she saw the whole horizon on fire.
“When they were liberated, she told me how the Russian Commander arrived in an armoured vehicle and pointed a gun in the air and squeezed the trigger and it was a perfume gun. It just sprayed perfume everywhere. She said that was quite emotional - after that she was free.”
When she was freed, Věra and many other prisoners trudged some 150km all the way to Prague in Czechoslovakia.
Martin says: “It was a terrifying time for her. I’m sure it affected her a lot, but she was very brave and very gifted as well.”
After the war, his mother joined the art college to study ceramics. It was there that she met Martin’s father, Josef Jochman, who was studying painting and graphic design.
Martin says: “They were very creative. As a child, my brother and I didn’t have a lot. We didn’t have a fridge, we didn’t have a TV, or a washing machine, but we had an apartment full of paintings and books.”
Martin adds: “My mother and father, who died in 2008, were part of an art scene, hanging out together and Miloš was in that group.
“Miloš did the study early in his career. It used to be pride of place in our living room when I was a child but eventually it ended up high on top of a wardrobe and fell off and smashed.
“Unfortunately it was in quite a bad state, with parts of it lost. My mother loved it. Before she died in 1999, aged 77, she gave it to me, I think hoping I could fix it.”
Grandfather of four Martin adds: “The fascinating thing is it looks just like my daughter did at about the age of 18. It is very special for me.”
It’s an important repair for ceramics expert Kirsten, aided by woodwork whizz Will Kirk, who turns his hand to sculpting a new oak base.
On seeing the restored piece, Martin is completely overwhelmed, with tears in his eyes.
He says: “This had an unexpected effect on me. It really brings back memories and transports me back to my childhood.
“It’s a beautiful image of my mother and it makes me start thinking about my past. It’s a reminder of where I came from, I will treasure it forever.”
* The Repair Shop returns to BBC One, Wednesday 7 June, 8pm.
