Jana Grebíková

* 1947

  • “My first memory. When we obtained permission to visit Dad for the first time, he was in Příbram at the time. So they graciously took us in to the bus, so we underwent that horrible journey. We stood on one side, he stood on the other, and there was some kind of wire mesh between us. I remember that they graciously allowed him to take me up into his arms, except that I screamed like a stuck pig because to me he was a total stranger.”

  • “We basically grew up [without a father] - ten years is a long time in a human life, especially for me, because when he came back I was thirteen and he started trying to bring me up. It wasn't until I also had children that it got sorted out and we understood each other better."

  • "They took pity on her afterwards because she had three children, zero income, and all our property was confiscated by the state. So they took pity on her at the forest district in Strání, and she was allowed to go plant trees in the forest and care for them there. When Dad was arrested I was three years old, so I don’t remember it much. Mum spent almost a year in the hospital in the psychiatry ward, so the boys and I stayed there until...I think I was five years old when we returned, because I started attending first class in Strání. It was only after two years that she received notification stating that he had been convicted."

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    Zlín, 08.04.2014

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Ten years is a long time

Grebikova__20140408_0001 – kopie.jpg (historic)
Jana Grebíková
zdroj: Paměť národa, dobová archiv pamětnice

Jana Grebíková, née Klímová, was born on the 26th of April in 1947 in Strání, in the vicinity of Uherské Hradiště, Zlín Region, as the youngest of three children. Her father Vítězslav Klíma came from a Jewish family that ran a distillery and restaurant in Strání. Her mother was a teacher. In the years 1940 to 1945 her father lived in hiding in Slovakia in Ivanke pri Dunaji, and after the war he returned to Strání. Vítězslav Klíma was arrested in July 1951 as part of a purge (called Operation Bee) against an anti-state group based in the Uherský Brod District; he was sentenced to 25 years of prison. After his arrest, his wife had a nervous breakdown. The three Klíma children were cared for by their aunt for two and a half years. Jana‘s mother was not able to continue teaching. She worked as a forest worker. The family lost all its property. Her father was released by amnesty in May 1960 and then worked as a road worker. Jana attended an agricultural school and found employment at Centroprojekt Zlín. She later married and started a family. Both her older brothers emigrated, one in 1967 and the other in 1968. After 1989 the family was given back part of their property in restitution. Jana Grebíková lives in Květná, not far from Strání.