It was not a comfortable situation in that way. “Also I was aware when we went to the Jewish Community Centre that there were spies – there were people who were undercover and were monitoring what was going on. Why would you even want to tell people that you’re Jewish – it could be dangerous and so on. “For example, when I had a Jewish star that I received from somebody and started wearing it she told me, No, no, no, you can’t. “Because she lost her family for being Jewish she didn’t want the same thing to me – that’s why she was so careful. I was aware that this was not something that… should not be taken lightly and could potentially lead to problems. She explained it to me in three words or less. “On the way there she told me, You’re Jewish, by the way. “I got invited to perform there in my capacity as a child star. “My mom didn’t get involved with the Prague Jewish Community really much, until then. But I do remember that it was pretty tricky to belong publicly to the Jewish community at the time. “Well, I didn’t feel anything in terms of relations with Israel. Did you then become part of the Prague Jewish Community? Or was there an active Jewish community, given that there was a kind of freeze in relations between Czechoslovakia and Israel? I was reading that you found out that you were Jewish at the age of nine or 10.
Lenka Lichtenberg, photo: archive of Lenka Lichtenberg So you were a star? “In some interview somewhere I said I was collecting chocolate wrappers, so I was getting bags of chocolate wrappers. “At that time also the songs were playing on the radio and I was getting literally bags of fan mail. “When Benefice was playing at the theatre… which was a lot – I think 15 performances a month, which for a kid who’s supposed to be at school next day it’s a little bit of a stretch. Na obloze tetelej se mráčky, My jsme jen zpěváci toulaví – those were the two main ones. Our first programme was called Benefice and I can say with a straight face that I was a little bit of a child star with him at that time. That was more like after I started in the theatre. Would you have been well-known? Would people have recognised you on the tram or whatever? Just so little! In that video I end up sitting on a wall and they shoot the wall away around me and he throws me over his shoulder and walks away with me. “I have to say when I look at that myself, I was pretty cute. It was Na louce zpívaj drozdi, which was also made into one of these early black and white music videos, with Karel Gott and Eva Pilarová. Actually the first song we recorded was before the theatre. “We kind of trained for a few months and learned some songs. I suppose he found what he was looking for and I was accepted. He was sitting at the piano and playing different notes, seeing if I could hit it right. And I said, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He said, I’d love to come over and sing for me. I picked up the phone and he said, Hello, this is Jiří Suchý. “The phone call actually came when I was home alone. Lenka Lichtenberg, Jiří Suchý, photo: YouTube“He did a bit of an audition and we happened to actually live within walking distance from his house, where he still lives as far as I know, in Střešovice. I guess he had more than one of those from various mothers around the country. “So my mom – very out of character for her – sat down and sent him a letter. “At the time he had a programme on the radio and he said, It’s too bad this girl grew up – I’m going to be looking for a replacement soon. “He had a girl before me named Zuzana Vrbová, who recorded a couple of popular songs but then she grew up. As a sort of comedic sidekick – the straight man. He had had one girl before me as a partner – he liked musical partners who were these little innocent girls.
I saw a very cute video of you singing on I guess Czechoslovak TV with Jiří Suchý at the famous Semafor, when you were around six or something. I cannot tell you which one, but that is what we did – we washed the dishes and sang, in harmonies and stuff like that.” Because my mom always sang Czech folk songs to me. “But the singing… I just stood there and sang.” Because when talking I go red in the face and get all anxious. “The only time when I wasn’t shy and felt very confident was when I was singing, rather than talking. Because, which may come as a surprise to some people, I was actually extremely shy. “That was sort of indicative of how music has always been for me. There was a little gathering and, without being asked, I stood right in the middle of the circle and started singing. My first public performance was at the age of four, in front of her friends. Lenka Lichtenberg, photo: archive of Lenka Lichtenberg“According to my mother I started singing at about two.