“The Škoda plant was bombed during the wartime. They got the plants wrong once and bombed Slovanské údolí, but we had just moved to Pařížská street at the end of the war. I remember the air raids while I was in school. We had reserved benches in the cellar. Each class had its corner. When the siren sounded, we all scurried for the cellar.”
“During the currency reform, I remember we were told not to go anywhere at school. It was exactly like telling us, ‘Go’. We were locked up in school. When we went home, an airplane was flying over Plzeň. It was a crop duster, and they were photographing the protesters from above. I heard they put 600 people in prison for that. I was in the 9th class, and my elder sister took part in the protest. Her schoolmate was kicked out of the school because of attending the march. Three girls were walking at the front of the march, carrying the Czech flag and a large image of President Beneš.”
“I recall Edvard Beneš visiting a place where the Beseda venue was in 1945 (the current site of the conservatory). Mum and I stood on the sidewalk. There were crowds of people everywhere and I kept yelling at mum because I couldn’t see anything. Eventually, they let us step up to the front row so that we could see Beneš arrive. I have a photo from that day, with Beneš standing in the square in Plzeň while our or the American national anthem was playing.”
Jaroslav Zíma was born in Plzeň on 17 February 1938 to parents Jaroslav Zíma and Marie Zímová. He grew up with his sister Jiřina. The parents encouraged the children to pursue music, and Jaroslav started playing the violin at age six, switching to the trumpet later on. The trumpet eventually turned into his job. He first went to school during World War II. He witnessed air raids, liberation by the US Army, and President Edvard Beneš’s visit during a military parade in Plzeň. At age 15, he went to the Military Music School in Liberec and, having completed it, joined the Military Orchestra in Domažlice, with which he also spent his mandatory military service. He graduated from a conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in the 1960s. He got married and joined the J. K. Tyl Theatre orchestra in Plzeň as the trumpet player in 1961. One year later, he joined the Municipal Symphony Orchestra in Mariánské Lázně (later known as the West-Bohemian Symphony Orchestra), with which he played until 1981. Concurrently, he worked at the Elementary Art School in Mariánské Lázně and the Plzeň conservatory. In 1981, he took over as the bandleader of the Youth Brass Orchestra and an ensemble of majorettes, with whom he often toured the West in the 1980s. In 2023, he was living in Mariánské Lázně with his wife, arranging brass band music and writing his own pieces.
With team leader Alena Hálová and students of the Fryderyka Chopin Elementary Art School during the Stories of Our Neighbours project, Mariánské Lázně, 2023
With team leader Alena Hálová and students of the Fryderyka Chopin Elementary Art School during the Stories of Our Neighbours project, Mariánské Lázně, 2023
Jaroslav Zíma after the recording with the students of the Fryderyka Chopin Elementary Art School as part of the Stories of Our Neighbours project, 2022
Jaroslav Zíma after the recording with the students of the Fryderyka Chopin Elementary Art School as part of the Stories of Our Neighbours project, 2022
