“Then he had a trial, right? And before that court I tried, again through friends, to find out in Ostrava, if anything could be done. Understand me, I was a mother, and my son was supposed to be tried and imprisoned. This is a terrible feeling. And despite the acquaintances, I will not say who, because it did not happen anyway, eventually told me that if I signed cooperation with the police, so that they help him. I immediately rejected it, just said it. I didn't meet anyone. Only through the acquaintances and their acquaintances, it was simply put back there, the message that I certainly do not intend to sign it. And then I told myself that the boy would rather be locked in and go through such an evil reality, and he's pretty tough, the son of mine, so I just didn't know what that would the reality look like. But just before signing anything, even if no one knew, but I would have known. Even if I didn't bring them, even if I didn't cooperate, but I'd sign it. And I didn't know the way it was here regarding these matters.”
“It was shocking for the mother, when I got into the mansion as it was called here, always the mansion, the Public Security. And I saw my son beaten up and tied to the radiator. And I was so startled at the first moment as if he had committed a crime, that he had done something to someone, as I never thought they would treat someone like that for political reasons. And what political reasons those were...”
“I came out of the house, I realize that, to school, and I always went around the dairy and bakery, where my mom was selling goods. She had the radio on, and as I was passing by her, I waved at her in the morning. And now I heard it from the radio. And it seemed to me that something terrible was happening, that it was like a war or something was about to come. That was all so gloomy about it, and as if that wasn't enough, Gottwald died. And it happened again, and in that school, it was just too much pressure on us, as if... as if we had really lost something so bad that the kids didn't even understand what was going on. But of course, when we went out, we forgot it again.”
“Because as we started to actively work with my children, both of them, in the year 1989, we were a branch of Vsetin and the Vsetin director called me not to be fooled, to wait, as it turns out, for the children. And I told her then, because of the children I can no longer wait, I have to do something to make it turn out as I wish.”
“And I did some such secret shows in our cottage in Zašová. So we invited Jan Rejžek, we invited our friends. He normally had his show there, which we paid him, because we gathered enough money to afford him. And that's how we invited other musicians, I don't know, Pepa Streichl, Jarek Nohavica, who was, by the way, my classmate at the library school. So he came to visit us often enough for meetings and secret gatherings. So we just had an opportunity at the cottage, because our friends could always bring in a friend they could vouch for, but of course it couldn't be guarded anyway, and then I learned that the secret police already knew about me and that they were following me. I learned that from o friend that they were interrogating and asking about the things I was doing at the cottage. But I had no contact with them myself, they never summoned me at all, but I think it was only a matter of time.”
Jarmila Mikulášková, born Kosňovská, was born on 13 February 1946 in Hranice na Moravě. She grew up with her parents and two brothers in the small town of Potštát in the former Sudetenland. Some of their German relatives ended up in relocation, and those who were allowed to stay were met in Potstat as a child. Her parents raised her for love of nature, responsibility, diligence and resilience. She graduated from secondary general school. She gradually worked in Tesla Rožnov, a glass and porcelain shop, until she finally docked in the library. After her marriage in 1966, she gave birth to two children, a son and a daughter. She was offered a membership in the Communist Party and cooperation with the secret police, but refused. From the difficult political situation in normalized Czechoslovakia, she found a consolation in art, founded and led a theater company. She was interested in samizdat, held high school discussions on art and literature, where she introduced even the prohibited authors. In 1989 she signed and extended the petition Several Sentences. In November 1989 she co-founded the Civic Forum in Rožnov and became one of its spokespersons. Today she is the municipal council for the Healthy Roznov association.
Cultural meeting at the cottage in Zašová, Jarmila Mikulášková first from left, Pepa Streichl third from left, Jaromír Nohavica second from right, in 1988
Cultural meeting at the cottage in Zašová, Jarmila Mikulášková first from left, Pepa Streichl third from left, Jaromír Nohavica second from right, in 1988
