Hana Krejčová

"I was lucky that I studied the Czech language and Music education. There were fifteen of us. They put teachers who were naughty off there. Especially in Ústí nad Labem, professors went there as a form of punishment. That was a bonus for us. I got to know incredible personalities there, for example, Zoya Hauptová for Old Slavonic, who wrote lectures and textbooks. And Professor Machovský. People who had problems with the regime. Mrs. Haupt, when she came in, lit a cigarette, introduced herself, and said she was going to teach us Old Slavonic. Then she added that she believed in God and that we could tell everyone because no one else at the school is able to teach Old Slavonic. She threw a classmate out of the exam because he said he believed in Darwin's theory that man came from an ape. Those professors were opening our eyes, hinting and showing us things. Our group initially ignored the Marxism-Leninism seminars. That was followed by a reprimand from the department head who told us we couldn't do that. It was clear which side he was on. But some people showed us the way and that's where I changed a lot."

"Paradoxically, we can now destroy Jezeří. Destroy it with ill-advised repairs. And that would be worse than leaving it as it was. Still, even if it doesn't have all the windows, it still has the power of testimony. I'm more worried about the fate of the Jezeří Chateau now. The more it becomes known, the more money goes in, and I dare not say that the restoration will be of better quality and more gentle, that it will respect the personality and essence of the building. It seems to me that the fight for Jezeří is just beginning. Jezeří has strength in that it has not been restored, it has retained a lot of authenticity. And so you can observe it as the last owners did. You see the history there, both wartime and post-war periods, and you can touch it."

"You couldn't see the chateau, there was nothing there. It was overgrown. It was unusable as such. People lived in a little house by the gate. You wouldn't even know there was a path to the garden. There was no garden because it was overgrown with trees. The chateau had no windows, nothing. There was about a metre of clutter. The whole castle was very messy. When I went in, they told me to do what I wanted with it. All I had to do was show it. I don't think anybody had any hope that there would ever be furniture in there. I was supposed to show people what it looked like and that was it. But I didn't see it that way. I knew from the beginning that I had to stomp it out, that I owed it to my grandmother and my ancestors. I didn't see it as the castle being a heritage site owned by the state. It was Jezeří and so it was ours. If I thought differently, Jezeří would never be open to visitors in my lifetime."