Blanka Častvajová

* 1951

Svědci lokálních událostí z éry komunismu
5. 1. - 21. 8. 1968 - The Prague Spring, 21. 8. 1968 - Invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops, 17. 11. - 29. 12. 1989 - The Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia
  • 1
    Přehrát
    Pozastavit

    Secret reading of the Conversations with TGM

    (audio)
    duration: 01:00
    Download file
    Info

    "I had an excellent professor. She helped me with recitation and literary competitions - I wrote to Maruška Kudeříková in Strážnice. And then, when it happened, she knew what my situation was, so we talked about it. She was persecuted, things were quite edgy. And she always took me aside and said: 'Look, I'll give you something to read, but please, you vouch for me.' Those were the Conversations with T.G.M., I don't have that here, I didn't read it until later. But these were the Conversations with T.G.M., as Karel Čapek wrote them down. So I always secretly read it. I didn't tell anyone, not even the girls in the room, I really appreciated it and I drew wisdom from it. I knew I couldn't talk about it in front of my friends, anywhere, neither at home. So I said it at home, and Dad replied, 'Do not dare to come here again.' They were afraid.´”

  • 2
    Přehrát
    Pozastavit

    Warsaw Pact tanks arrived at their birthdays

    (audio)
    duration: 01:14
    Download file
    Info

    "I was seventeen when there was an occupation. I was born on August 21, 1951, so it was my birthday. Well, in the morning, when I was looking forward to it, instead of Dad coming as always and saying, 'So we wish you all the best, here's a bag of candy...' no applause or piles of presents, none of that existed back then, so instead of that Dad broke into bedroom and shouted: 'Do not dare to stick your nose out of the house! We were attacked by the Russians. 'Dad ran somewhere, Mom was crying, everyone in Aš was feeling bad about it. At noon we then fled at least a short distance to the hospital. And the signs towards Prague, because they all wanted to go from Cheb to Prague, those were all smeared with lime or covered with rags and other signposts. The Russians were being sent elsewhere to confuse them. Well, there we saw about two tanks and there were really guys, soldiers, kind of greenhorns all so tired. And they just stood there wondering and not knowing what to do."

  • Full recordings
  • 1

    Mnichovice, 15.01.2020

    (audio)
    duration: 01:10:21
    media recorded in project The Stories of Our Neigbours
    Download file
    Info
Full recordings are available only for logged users.

Soviet tanks arrived on her birthday instead of presents

Blanka Častvajová
Blanka Častvajová
photo: Paměť národa
photo: Paměť národa
Download image

Blanka Častvajová, for single Popelková, was born on August 21, 1951 in Ohařice near Jičín. She moved with her parents and siblings to Aš for work, where the border was settled at that time. Mom and Dad worked in the store, and probably because they both refused to join the Communist Party, the family lived, so to speak, from paycheck to paycheck. Blanka graduated from secondary pedagogical school and made a living as a teacher, which was her dream profession. She married in 1972, and two years later the first of two sons was born. She traveled a lot after the revolution. She also taught English.

Show witness full story (Czech)
Photos (2)
  • Blanka Častvajová
    Blanka Častvajová
    photo: Paměť národa
    Download image
  • Witness Blanka Častvajová during the recording of the project Stories of Our Neighbors
    Witness Blanka Častvajová during the recording of the project Stories of Our Neighbors
    photo: Paměť národa
    Download image
Links (2)

Příběhy našich sousedů

  • date:
    15.01.2020
  • medium type:
    Internet
  • medium name:
    Příběhy našich sousedů
  • author:
    Karolína Erbenová, Alžběta Hányšová, Ondřej Růžička a Eliška Wiesnerová ze ZŠ T. G. Masaryka Mnichovice pod vedením Terezy Klímové

Hejtman Josef Novotný ocenil pedagogy

  • date:
    01.04.2014
  • medium type:
    Internet
  • medium name:
    Karlovarský kraj
  • author:
    Jana Pavlíková