Ludmila Kobzíková

“My sister Marie worked in the Gumotex company and she was in a good post there. My father was highly resistant to joining the united agriculture cooperative. So a deputation from Gumotex, the chairman, and other four people came and they persuaded my dad to join the united agriculture cooperative. Naturally, he was arrogant and resisted joining. My sister Maryška who had to leave Gumotex paid for it. She then looked for a job and started to work as a guide in Lednice Château. So she suffered because of it the most.”

“The first tour was to Italy, Bologna in 1961. (Men in) Břeclavan wear red trousers and young women wear red skirts during one performance and that is why they forbade us to perform there. We came there at the invitation of the Communist Party and they thought we were there to promote the Communist Party. They forbade us to perform for five days but then it all became clear so we continued performing. We came there as an ethnographic ensemble but thanks to that red colour they thought that we came there to promote the Communist Party. However, we did not perform anything committed. It was our folklore that we were good at. Verbunk (folk dance - trans.), dance performances, folk dances.”