I didn’t like communists but I wasn‘t afraid of them
Marie Sněhotová was born on 30 August 1938 in Ostrava - Hrabová. Her father, Bohumil Balušek, was a shoemaker who was forbidden from running his own business by the communists in the 1950s. Marie knew many people from Hrabová who ended up in prison in connection with the trial of Jan Buchal, who was sentenced to death for anti-communist resistance. The Balušek family were religious and did not stop practicing their faith even during the totalitarian regime. Marie trained as a laboratory technician and worked at the Vítkovice Ironworks in Ostrava. She never joined a pioneer or union organization, she refused to join the Communist Party and justified everything by her faith in God. Her family friend was the parish priest Vratislav Schneiderka, who was imprisoned and served in the auxiliary technical battalions. In 2002, she witnessed the burn-out of the unique wooden church in Hrabová and then participated in its restoration. In 2022 she lived in Ostrava - Hrabová.