Hana Ascherlová

* 1955

  • "And my husband came for me, it was already in the evening, he came for me in the back of the room where we lived and asked me to come with him for a while. And there they were in long coats, obviously just to show that they were from the secret police, that was how they used to dress, and they asked us if we could and were willing to say something about Hrabal; for example what he was talking about or what he said, or so we could tell them all, I told them: Look "I deliver beer here and I don't have time to listen to who's talking about what."

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    Vimperk, 20.12.2015

    (audio)
    duration: 34:23
    media recorded in project Soutěž Příběhy 20. století
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We served Bohumil Hrabal

Ascherlová Hana (*1955)
Ascherlová Hana (*1955)
photo: soutěž

Hana Ascherlová was born on October 1, 1955 in Kolín and spent her childhood in nearby Velim. They lived with their parents for several years with their grandparents, who owned farms in Velké Chvalovice. After refusing to join a unified agricultural cooperative, her uncles were sent to work in uranium mines and her mother was prevented from further study and had to take up a working-class position. Hana graduated from the secondary vocational school of communal catering in Poděbrady. After the first unsuccessful marriage, from which her son Petr arose, she and her second husband first undertook a rest stop in Kersk and later Pivnice Hájenky, a well-known location from the film Snowdrop Celebration, in the filming of which the witness and her family took part. The writer Bohumil Hrabal, on whom the State Security refused to provide information, was also a frequent and popular guest who came to them. In September 1983, after unsuccessfully asking whether Pivnice Hájenka could fall directly under the leadership of the Aschers, the family decided to move to Šumava, specifically to Lipka near the town of Vimperk, where they became operating in a small hotel. Hana Ascherlová lived in Vimperk at the time of filming (2015).