Jiřina Jarošová

* 1929

  • "After the war, I don't know exactly, be it 1946, 1947 at the most, the Museum of the Čapek brothers was opened in Malé Svatoňovice. And distinguished guests were invited to the opening. Among others, President Beneš and Mrs. Hana were invited. And it quickly spread across our region. And the Sokol members obliged, and we lined the whole way from the borders of Malé Svatoňovice to the square. The mayor welcomed President Beneš at the city borders. The mayor was Mr. Prouza, whose son was executed together with my dad. He welcomed him, and Mrs. Hana received a bouquet of lilies of the valley, her favorite flowers. And Mr. President got out of the car, and everybody thought that after the welcome, they would get back in and drive. It was at least two kilometers to that square. But Mr. President didn't get in the car. They walked the whole way. And my mom and I were standing in the front row, holding hands and waving with the other hand. We shed tears because it was deeply moving. And Mrs. Hana looked directly at us and then kept walking. Well, you know, it was such a festive moment that one does not forget and sometimes remembers it. The President walked without a bodyguard, simply among us, regular folk."

  • "That's how the parade probably went. I don't remember exactly. But we walked from the Wenceslas Square along the National Avenue, and there sat President Gottwald, Nejedlý, and I don't even know who else. But I remember Nejedlý because he was the minister of education, so I was interested in him. Well, as we walked, we shouted many slogans along the way: 'Long live freedom!', 'Long live the republic!' And when we came right in front of that tribune, a command was given: 'Look to the left!' Well, we looked to the left. And we knew that it was a form of resistance. We knew that Gottwald and his suite were sitting there, and we were looking the other way. So we were looking at the Vltava because it was on the waterfront. And we kept going. And when we passed them, we started singing again and marched to the Old Town Square."

  • "We went to the big room again. It was full of women and children. The Gestapo guy came again, collecting packages in a giant basket and taking it away. But after a while, he came back and returned the packages. And when the people asked, he told them the prisoners were not present. So, there was wailing and crying because that wasn't good news. We went outside and discussed what to do next. The teacher offered himself to go with my mother to the Gestapo. And that they will find out what's going on. He wasn't afraid. Neither my mom was afraid. According to mom's story, they came to the ground floor, and there were big iron bars. After a while, the Gestapo guy came. The teacher asked about dad, and the Gestapo guy only said one word: "Geschossen." That means 'shot' in German."

  • Celé nahrávky
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    Zlín, 09.03.2022

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    délka: 01:23:35
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the region - Central Moravia
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    Zlín, 16.03.2022

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    délka: 01:05:45
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the region - Central Moravia
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I still keep my father‘s shirt to this day

Photo of Jiřina Jarošová from the student card of the grammar school in Dvůr Králové, February 1946
Photo of Jiřina Jarošová from the student card of the grammar school in Dvůr Králové, February 1946
zdroj: witness archive

Jiřina Jarošová, née Ježková, was born on 3 October 1929, in Dvůr Králové. She spent her childhood in nearby Doubravice, where her father taught at an elementary school. Her father, Karel Ježek, was devoted to Sokol from a young age. Gradually, he brought his wife Marie and his daughter there. In 1938, both parents participated in the 10th all-Sokol gathering in Prague. The Czechoslovak Sokol community then sent her father to a weekly military training course in Tišnov near Brno. After the break-up of Czechoslovakia and the establishment of the protectorate, the father engaged in the resistance organization Defense of the nation, then in the Sokol organization Jindra, and later in S21B. He was involved in helping the radio operator Jiří Potůček from the Silver A paratrooper group after he had to escape from Ležáky in June 1942 during the Heydrich rampage. On 2 July 1942, the Gestapo arrested Karel Ježek. He was executed within a week. Jiřina and her mother survived the rest of the war without dramatic complications, mainly thanks to the help of the mother‘s brothers and other people. In 1948, the witness graduated. She also participated in the 11th all-Sokol gathering in Prague, where the Sokols expressed their disagreement with the rising communist regime. The witness graduated from the Faculty of Education. She and her husband Vojtěch got married in 1953, and 13 years later, they moved to Napajedla with their two children.