Jitka Rakovcová

* 1947

  • “They had everything already prepared. The charges were inside the church, waiting to be detonated. The fire truck was ready and waiting to spray the dust after the demolition. It was strangely quiet there. People were hushed. The explosion sounded and the church fell to the ground. Some of the debris left over was taken to the Summer Theater. They dumped it on the left side. Today, it’s grown over with grass.”

  • “Tanks were already driving over the bridge when we left the factory. Boys were sitting on them. They were dirty. They were wearing shirts and you could see by their collars that they were probably Russians. They drove around, maybe not even knowing where they were going. They got their orders, so they drove. Stones ripped out by their treads were strewn all over the streets. The people from the villages couldn’t even walk home on them; they had to go through the fields. I just happened to be expecting my first daughter then, I was pregnant.”

  • “In winter, around four in the morning, two of them always went on guard. They skied in white coveralls. They had a dog with them, an Alsatian. They went to make a call a few kilometers outside of Nýrsko. I have beautiful memories of it. They looked so good doing it.”

  • Celé nahrávky
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    v Plzni, 17.07.2020

    (audio)
    délka: 01:19:22
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Příběhy regionu - PLZ REG ED
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

Girl from the borderlands

Jitka Rakovcová in 2020
Jitka Rakovcová in 2020
zdroj: Vladimír Vítek

Jitka Rakovcová was born in 1947 in Nýrsko in the Šumava borderlands area to Antonín and Barbora Terzlový. She lived with her parents in a small house left behind by expelled Germans next to the barracks of the Border Guard. In 1956, she began going to the elementary school on Komenský Street. She was active member of the Pioneers. After completing school, she started work making eyeglasses for a company called Okula. In her free time, she headed a club for young firefighters. Along with the children, she cleaned the bottom of the Nýrsko dam before it was filled. She came to know the young border guards. She eventually married one, Stanislav Hladík, in 1967. She went on to have three daughters in succession: Jitka, Martina, and Stanislava. She experienced the Soviet occupation of Nýrsko in August 1968. On 26 January 1973 she witnessed the demolition of the baroque Church of the Fourteen Holy Helpers on the main square of Nýrsko. In 1981, her husband died while engaged in repair work on the dyke of the Nýrsko dam. Economic need saw her entering work that very year as a care worker in an institution for children with disabilities in Bystřice nad Úhlavou. She experienced the changes in the care sector during 1990s. She got married a second time in 1992 to a man named Karel Rakovec. Because of her poor health, she was forced to return to the Okula glasses factory for work. She retired four years later. She worked part-time as a guide in the Nýrsko Museum. She got involved in amateur theatre. During our filming sessions (2020) she was living peacefully in her home, engaged in university studies, and devoting time to her grandchildren.