Marie Štěňhová

* 1923

  • "We were in a small village, a settlement really, there were only eleven houses. I went to school in Měník, that was just two kilometres away. I remember, there were only a few of us from the settlement, and always in winter when we went to school the oldest walked the way through the snow and we followed her there. Or I remember, that was beautiful: always in the summer, when the windows were open in school and we were singing, our mother could hear us as she was working at the field."

  • (How did you welcome the Velvet Revolution and 1989?) "Well yeah, we were excited, we were truly excited. Well, terribly. Jesus, I remember that, there was much joy. I remember as we drove by bus to Wenceslas Square, and as I went by bus, we all embraced. That was wonderful. It was beautiful, really."

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Domov pro seniory Chodov, Praha 11, 08.11.2017

    (audio)
    délka: 01:00:12
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu The Stories of Our Neigbours
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

If something fails, just get up and move on. Indeed it is worth it.

Marie  Štěňhová
Marie Štěňhová
zdroj: Pamět Národa - Archiv

Marie Štěňhová was born on 22 May, 1923 near Nový Bydžov. Her parents had a small farm, which had to provide obligatory ratios to the state during war. Marie attended the gymnasium, where she also met her future husband. They married in 1943 and had three children; but the first son died shortly after the birth. Her husband played in the Czechoslovak Radio Orchestra in Prague, where they moved. Her family was never politically active, but Marie followed the situation all the time and was strongly touched by the death of Jan Masaryk. On 21 August, 1968 she was actually at the business trip with her husband in Denmark, but they refused all emigration offers. They welcomed the velvet revolution in November 1989 with enthusiasm, but regretted the separation of Czech and Slovak republics. Today she lived in the retirement home and a strong faith has given her lifelong support and power.