“I used to go to the radio building because Plzeň’s radio branch kept on broadcasting for a long time. There were crowds of people in front of the building, and there were Soviet tanks too. Elderly ladies would come by with baskets and handed them over to the building for those who stayed inside. I cut out [Alexander] Dubček’s photo from a newspaper, put it on a line and wore it as a necklace. I recall this horrible moment when I was approaching the radio from Boettingerova [street] with Dubček on my chest, and a Soviet tank drove against me. The tank started turning [the gun barrel] towards me. I thought: ‘Oh God, they must see Dubček [on my chest] and will likely shoot me.”
“I faced difficulties when I wanted to join the 3rd Elementary Art School [as an employee]. I tried hard and repeatedly, addressing director Jiří Oudes, and he kept telling me it was impossible and to try and come back later. It was being kept postponed. He eventually hired me. Then one day, after I had been there for quite a long time, he told me he faced difficulties hiring me because of John [Bok, her partner and Charter 77 activist]. Allegedly, I was politically unreliable. He only told me after 1989. He was a bit difficult too. I remember some meetings in the square prior to 1989. I went there and he saw me there. Then there was an art exhibition at Luna; I don’t remember much about it. The [communist] regime probably didn’t like it very much, though I don’t recall why. By then, I had already been hired by the school, and director Oudes invited me to his office and asked me why I had seen the exhibit. Somebody had told him. He said I shouldn’t go to the meetings and I should behave differently if I wanted to keep working with young people.”
“Mum attended a two-year business academy. They lived in Plešnice at the time, so she commuted to Plzeň. There was a farm in Úlice near Plešnice and she initially worked as an accountant on the farm, and then moved to Prague and worked with an educational authority. I don’t recall where it actually was. I remember her telling me that she had been in a secret group during the war; her relative [Josef] Pešek who shared a prison cell with [Julius] Fučík was involved in the resistance. My mum helped with that too. She said she carried leaflets around but was never arrested. [Josef] Pešek was arrested and [Julius] Fučík mentions him in his Notes from the Gallows as ‘pops’. He ended up poorly. They imprisoned him and he went through several concentration camps. He eventually made it back but died in Prague just after the war in 1945; he perished in a death march.”
Eva Rovenská was born in Prague on 17 December 1950. Her grandfather was a school headmaster and wrote a chronicle. His wife died of the Spanish flu in 1918. Eva’s step-uncle was Jaromír Vraštil, a prominent illustrator of adventure books who died tragically. Her second step-uncle, Josef Pešek was in prison as a member of anti-Nazi resistance, shared a cell with Julius Fučík, went through several concentration camps, and eventually died in a death march. Eva’s mother Libuše was involved in the resistance too yet survived. Grandfather accommodated US Army soldiers in Jílkův mlýn mill. Mother was a resolute anti-communist and father died soon. The witness and mother listened to Radio Free Europe and the Voice of America at home. Eva experienced the invasion of Warsaw Pact armies on 21 August 1968 quite emotionally in Česká Kubice. She graduated from the technical secondary school in Plzeň in ceramics and, while a student, took lessons in theatre school of the J. K. Tyl Theatre where she acted as an extra. She graduated from JAMU in Brno in 1974 and was employed at the Slovácké divadlo in Uherské Hradiště. She has a son with Charter 77 signatory John Bok – Jan Rovenský, an environmental activist born in Plzeň on 23 April 1975. After a brief stint with Plzeň’s Divadlo Alfa, she worked as a teacher at a children’s leisure club. She was a member of the Divadlo Pod lampou troupe from 1982, touring the country except for the Western Bohemian Region where the regime forbade them to perform. Despite difficulties stemming from her anti-regime stance, she was eventually employed as a teacher at Plzeň’s 3rd Elementary Art School. In 2008 she worked at the J. K. Tyl Theatre as a prompter and played supporting roles. She also played in Divadlo Dialog and Nové divadlo. She taught drama to children at the Moving Station but was forced to quit due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Eva’s great-grandmother Anna Bečvářová after her daughter’s death of Spanish flu in 1918 – attending are Eva’s aunts Vlasta, Anežka (AKA Áša), her mother Libuše, and cousin Jarmila on the left
Eva’s great-grandmother Anna Bečvářová after her daughter’s death of Spanish flu in 1918 – attending are Eva’s aunts Vlasta, Anežka (AKA Áša), her mother Libuše, and cousin Jarmila on the left
Three orphans Libuše, Vlasta and Áša, left behind their mother who died of the Spanish flu in 1918; photographed in the school yard in Polepy near Litoměřice
Three orphans Libuše, Vlasta and Áša, left behind their mother who died of the Spanish flu in 1918; photographed in the school yard in Polepy near Litoměřice
