Františka Čoková

“The postwoman Františka Čoková responded to an open call from the National Museum for unknown photography from the invasion. Her pictures will be in the Museum from 21 August to 30 September. Through the lens of a postwoman. The events of the twenty-first of August were engraved into Františka Čoková’s memory. She shares them at her cottage in Český Ráj, where she spends the summer. She was driving with boxes of newspapers to the Main Post Office in Prague and people were covering her truck with posters. ‘It looked like a moving post office notice board,’ she says. ‘On one side was –No domination, not even brotherly. On the other –Twice let down, twice occupied, twice educated. After asking why twice, ‘in ‘38 and ‘68’ burst out. Those fateful eights. She jotted down the events of the occupation on a couple of pieces of paper. These notes are available to the editors. We cite: ‘On the day of the twenty-first of August, I was on my way from the station in Karlín to the Main Post Office on Jindřišská Street. In the early morning hours, Russian soldiers showed up in the courtyard. We had to leave work.’ In the days that followed she managed to capture hundreds of pictures. Despite being amateur, they are gripping. She gladly explains the circumstances in which they were taken. She presents a photo of the courtyard of the Main Post Office with parked Soviet armored cars. The lens is pointed upwards toward a half-opened window. The author explains: ‘I took pictures from the floor through the bathroom window. It was impossible from the courtyard. The Russians were opening boxes there. They stabbed them with bayonets, eating whatever was fit to eat. I saw them peeling bananas which someone had sent via Tuzex. I have witnesses for this, Mrs. Nebeská for one, we drove together. Today she lives in Prosek, not far from me.‘ In her written memories she claims: ‘We had to leave work. On Na Příkopě Street we stared at the Russian forces on trucks in a state of disbelief. We let the air out of their tires. Then we moved to the Radio. To Vinohradská Avenue, where battles were raging. Young people were dying there. We didn’t work for the next two days. We didn’t started delivering packages again till 24 August. I drove around all of Prague and photographed the havoc.’”

"Close to our agricultural village was a barracks and German soldiers came to us to drink beer. Mom had to serve them and they wanted her to get a hold of some eggs for them. What was my Mom supposed to do; she had to walk around the village, begging for eggs for the Germans. I remember it being unhappy and hard for her. –And so I have another question for you, one about school. You went to school during the war, to elementary school. How was that? Did you encounter any limitations? –I’ll tell you what, I have an incredible memory from then. Once, all of us from the village school were outside and planes started flying over our heads. One of the teachers, Mr. Pospíšil, who was looking after us, had us immediately lie down in a ditch and we weren’t allowed to move. I remember that being especially depressing, because the planes were flying low above our heads and we could see the soldiers in uniforms in the plane. I can remember that too."