“We got this eviction note stating that we were banned from living in the city of Pilsen (Plzeň). I don´t remember what the note said exactly. But I know that my parents were quite disconcerted by that, they were having quite a hard time. The interesting thing was that we were no longer living above the café. My father no longer worked at the café, he had no connection to the restaurant business. He was working at Škoda factory. They gave us this flat in exchange, of a same size as the previous one, on the corner of Stalin Avenue (Stalinova třída) and Denis Waterfront (Denisovo nábřeží). There was a Red Justice (Rudé Právo) editorial office on the first floor. And they gave this flat on the third floor. Then we got this eviction note and we were supposed to move Neratov near Žamberk. But my parents managed to make an appeal. I don´t know why were we supposed to be evicted from Pilsen (Plzeň). If someone denounced them of something like that, I don´t know. Our father bought a cottage at Senecký Lake near Bolevec in 1950. The village wasn´t yet a part of Pilsen (Plzeň) at that time, so it seems tham my parents were allowed to move there. After that, we we had been living there for four years.“
“In 1953, there was a school reform and since then elementary school had just eight grades. And at that time, Mr Director told me... He summoned my mother and me for an interrogation, stating that we were listening to Radio Free Europe broadcasts for sure, even if we would deny that, so he couldn´t give me a recommendation needed to be allowed to study at secondary school, as I had no political awareness. But after that, they opened this one-year course and the class was filled with children. So there were probably more children persecuted like me for some reason. In my case the reason was my father being an entrepreneur. So I did this one-year course and then I applied for a secondary business school; I wanted to study pharmaceutics but I didn´t succeed. But I was admitted to the business school and I graduated. Nothing happened. After graduating, they would give us an assignment. So right after graduating, on July 1st, I started working at the United Wholesales – in a textile warehouse.”
“As it happened, my father got sick, he had tonsillitis. But we didn´t. That was after my sister was born. It was in 1944, in the autumn. We wanted to go to Štěpán´s, but they were already closed. So we came back and hid in our cellar. And after a while, our father came running, stating that the situation was bad indeed. As there was this air raid on the railway station and bombs were falling all around our house. My father just threw some blankets overs us and then we heard this thundering roar. Even in the cellar, as it blew our the chimney doors. So we were all looking like chimney sweeps. So I just wanted to share this funny story. Thank´s God, no one was harmed, but we were a horrible sight for sure.”
Jiřina Vrkoslavová née Ulrichová was born on 6th September 1938 in Pilsen (Plzeň). Her father, Jindřich Ulrich, was a waiter who started his own café and wine bar at the Charles IV Avennue (Třída Karla IV.) in 1941. Her mother, Zdeňka, was a housewife, raising her two children and helping her husband in the café. Jiřina witnessed Allied air-raids and speaks of terror she experienced. She also speaks of her happy childhood and of freedom she and her sibling had been given by their parents. Jiřina did well in school and exercised regularly at the local Sokol Organisation branch. In 1948, her father´s café had been nationalised by the new government, yet he acted as its manager till 1950. In the early 50s, the family had been evicted from the flat above the café and Jindřich Ulrich had to do a blue-collar job. In 1953, he had been arrested and accused of being involved in the protests against the financial reform. He was able to prove that he had been working at the factory at the time the protests occurred. However, the Ulrich family had been forced to move out. They were supposed to move to Neratov near Žamberk in the Orlické Mountains near the Polish border. However, they managed to negotiate them being moved to a cottage at Senecký Lake in Bolevec, a village that wasn´t yet a part of Pilsen (Plzeň) at that time, as they had been banned from living in the city. In 1953, Jiřina herself faced communist persecution. As a daughter of an entrepreneur, as she was told by a comrade director at elementary school, she didn´t get the recommendation needed to be allowed to study at a secondary school. However, after a one-year follow up study, she started to study at a secondary business school, graduating in 1958. In 1956, the family moved back to Pilsen (Plzeň). Jiřina changed jobs several times. Everywhere, she felt that her honest work wasn´t recognized and that her initiative was hampered. She states that only Communist Party members could make a career and get better salaries. In 1961, she married and had been raising her daughter with Oldřich, her husband. The family didn´t engage in social or political activities. Jiřina also didn´t expect much from protests of the fall of 1989 as she didn´t believe that change was possible. During the new regime – as she puts it – she could finally show what she can do. In 1991, she started a business. She had been working as a tax accountant till her retirement in 2011.
Hrdinové 20. století odcházejí. Nesmíme zapomenout. Dokumentujeme a vyprávíme jejich příběhy. Záleží vám na odkazu minulých generací, na občanských postojích, demokracii a vzdělávání? Pomozte nám!
