Eva Žejdlíková

* 1942

  • "It's really terrible with this war. When you see the demolished barracks, everything broken down, the children or the mass graves, it's devastation, it's really horrible. And I also wonder at the Russians, so many of whom died in World War II, that they would quietly let their children go to such a stupid war that's not worth anything. Because it's not a nice war. They have nothing to do in Ukraine. It's an independent state. And they've taken Crimea, too. That's not fair either. Russia is supposed to recognize borders, there's nothing to be done about that. And the Ukrainians are quite brave for holding on like this. No one would have thought they would defend their country like that. It's great. They must be commended."

  • "When I was a kid, they were wonderful celebrations. Most of the time it was already warm in May. We wore white socks, we had pioneer scarves. And we enjoyed it because they were beautiful parades. The squares were full of people. And there was a parade with allegorical floats. Each factory had an allegorical float on which was painted what they produced. Then the workers and other allegorical floats went. It was really beautiful. There was joy, merriment everywhere. I remember that one year in May there was a celebration on the embankment in front of the school by the Syn Pond with the participation of the Greeks. They were studying at the gymnasium and there were a lot of them then. They wore beautiful costumes, played their music and danced on the waterfront. It was beautiful and we loved it. People were cheerful and always shouted, 'He who stands on the sidewalk does not love the Republic.'"

  • "In 1968, when the troops invaded us, we knew nothing in advance. We had our balconies connected, and our neighbor would bang on our window to wake us up and go see what was going on. We really didn't anticipate that that would happen. And when we went out on the balcony, we saw huge planes. What a noise! And they were flying so low that I thought maybe they were going to knock down our chimneys. That was not a nice moment when they attacked us, not really. Nobody liked that. But we went to work normally. After that I know people started buying things so that they would have a supply of flour and things like that in case something happened, so that they would have something to cook with. And I know that some protest against the occupation went to Pardubice. It was a document signed by the workers. But the Russian soldiers weren't even in Svratka. They were staying at the stadium. They were young boys who didn't even know where they were or why they were fighting. They thought maybe we were shooting here. They were completely stupid."

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    Pardubice, 23.01.2023

    (audio)
    délka: 01:19:22
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It was an ugly time when the Soviet occupation began in 1968

Eva Žejdlíková, 1961
Eva Žejdlíková, 1961
zdroj: Archive of the witness

Eva Žejdlíková, née Hloušková, was born on 26 November 1942 in Polička in the former Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Her father had a small tiling company there. After 1948, the communists nationalized it. She trained in Pardubice as a textile saleswoman. After her marriage to Josef Žejdlík, she moved to Svratka. In August 1968 she experienced the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops there. She worked in Svratka as a manager of a household goods store and then a grocery store. After 1989, she was one of the first private owners in Svratka when she bought the shop she worked in during privatisation. In 2023 she lived with her husband in Domě klidného stáří (the House of Quiet Old Age) in Svratouch.