Marie Jančová

* 1945

  • "And the worst thing was when my father was alive for those two years, he was sick. And then, when he died and was to be buried, not only were they evicted, but they were forbidden to enter the village. And that was everywhere, all over that district. And when Dad died, we tried to get permission to bury him there. So to the cops, the cops at the Ministry of the Interior, Justice. I waited there half a day to get it done, but I got it done right so we could move him and bury him at home. And when my grandmother and I went to the cemetery, we had to sit on the pale and watch the cemetery when nobody was there, hurry up and make the graves and clear out so nobody would see us, so nobody would report us. Because there was a big fine that we would have to pay a big fine if we were caught there."

  • "For him as a husband, how should I put it, that year forty-eight started badly there because they had a big farm. There was a big drought in 1947, they didn't produce, and on top of that, they lost cattle. That was the foot and mouth disease, it was rampant, so they lost cattle, they didn't produce, and they couldn't meet those deliveries as they were prescribed. Even though they tried to replace them with something else, they couldn't because his father was labeled as a subversive of the republic. And so he didn't have, they couldn't fulfill those deliveries and stuff like that. And they started being prosecuted from that forty-eighth year."

  • "So, that was at home with my parents, when they were having such a hard time as they were enlarging the farm, well, they didn't want to join that agricultural cooperative, especially not my mother, because they were putting money into it. And we, as children, were earning money, so we contributed that money to them. To pay for it, without debts. Back then you couldn't go and loan because nobody would guarantee it, everybody was afraid. Well, what could be bought was bought. But he wanted the farm to be a little bigger. Well, they came, they talked him into it, into the agricultural cooperative. And then, after a long time, Dad handed it over quietly and peacefully. And he went to work in that agricultural cooperative."

  • Celé nahrávky
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    Chotěboř, 01.11.2022

    (audio)
    délka: 01:19:35
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu The Stories of Our Neigbours
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

I‘ve been patient and I‘ve helped everyone

Marie Jančová
Marie Jančová
zdroj: archive of the witness

Marie Jančová, née Konfrštová, was born on 24 February 1945 in Nová Ves near Chotěboř. Her parents built a small farm. When collectivisation came, they did not want to hand over their property to a unified agricultural cooperative (JZD). Only after a long time did her dad transfer the farm under pressure and go to work in the JZD. Her husband Rudolf came from a family that was labelled kulaks and was evicted from their farm in Černuc near Kladno. In addition, her father-in-law was convicted and imprisoned, he was released in poor health, and her mother-in-law took care of him at home. Their family background brought them various problems during the communist regime, whether it was the scuffles around their wedding or the great difficulty in finding housing. After the Revolution, the family looked into the archives of State Security (StB), where they found that even friendly neighbours had informed on them. In 2022, Marie Jančová was living in Chotěbor.