Květa Hamplová

* 1937

  • "The worst years were beginning. We were the first year which took final exams apart from getting normal school report. There were forced job placements. I've always loved kids so much. My desire was to be a kindergarten teacher, I had already chosen, there was a school in Litomyšl. But unfortunately, I was a daughter of a business owner, so it was out of the question. I was, as the class teacher told me, a Mánes type, black-haired and well-built. And so comrade headmistress, Albína Sobotová, told me that I could train to be a miner, that I had the physique for it. They were recruiting at that time."

  • "But the end of the war was great, when I come to think of it. My father was running in the square, he had a loudspeaker, broadcasting in the Small Square what was happening in Prague. We were excited. He came running home saying he wanted to give the Russians a watch. He [a Russian] wanted a watch, he gave him a watch. The Russian was grateful, he gave him a watch too, Dad brought it in, the clockwork was missing, he [my dad] gave him a gold-plated watch. My uncle, my mother's brother, went with the Russian soldiers on a tank to Prague. I remember when the Americans were here in the square, they came from Velichovky. Various memories. When they were chasing the Germans around the square, how they were taking revenge on them: 'Kneel, lie down, get up.' It seemed quite strange to children. On the other hand, when the Hitlerjugend members were walking around the square, we were looking at them from windows, they were throwing banana skins at us, making fun of us. It wasn't nice."

  • "Several [people], about three of the group were executed. I don't remember exactly, I'd have to look it up somewhere, certainly [it was] Mr. Šverka. Dad always said, 'Learn languages if you can.' He was saved by the fact that as a boy he had spent time with a German family in Germany. He grew up in Rtyně v Podkrkonoší, which is near Trutnov. He could speak German and he spoke it quite well. He denied speaking German [at the interrogation]. 'My advantage was that before they translated the question during the interrogation, I could prepare my answer. And that probably saved my life.'"

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    Studio ED Hradec Králové, 13.08.2019

    (audio)
    délka: 58:08
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Comrade headmistress said I could train to be a miner, that I had the physique for it

Květa Hamplová – photo from 1952
Květa Hamplová – photo from 1952
zdroj: Witness´s archive

Květa Hamplová was born on 20 May 1937 in Hradec Králové. Her father Jaroslav Vokřál ran a tinsmith workshop. Mum Božena trained as a seamstress. Both parents were active in the Sokol movement. During the Nazi occupation they were involved in the activities of the resistance group Jitřenka. Father was arrested by the Gestapo in March 1940. Mother was left alone with her young daughter. At the time she was pregnant and in charge of the whole business. Father was kept in Pankrác prison by the Nazis for a year and a half. Then he spent another six months in forced labour in Germany. In May 1940, witness´s mum gave birth to twins. After the war, her father‘s business was thriving, but after 1948 it was confiscated by the communist regime. It was taken over by the Municipal Construction Company in Hradec Králové and father continued to work there as a worker only. After finishing primary school in 1952, Květa had difficulties to get a job as a daughter of a small business owner. It was only through the intercession of her uncle that she was hired in the Pramen shop in Hradec Králové. She trained as a shop assistant and graduated from the school of economics. Then she worked as an accountant and later as a supply clerk at Technomat. After 1968 she was dismissed from her job. Eventually, she found employment at the East Bohemian Waterworks and Sewerage Company, where she also experienced the events of November 1989. Today Květa Hamplová lives in Hradec Králové - Svinary. She has a son and a daughter.