Eva Hájková

* 1934

  • “Grandma had a cottage in Kbely. There was an air raid, the siren was blaring from the airport to send people running to the trenches. Lower down there were unfinished houses, and so there were trenches made of clay. My grandmother was running from the garden to the trenches, and as she opened the door, the cougar fell right in front of the door. She was wounded; they transported her from the hospital to Bulovka, and she was supposed to go home on May 5, but then the revolution started, so she stayed in the hospital. Then, when my mother got the clothes that were torn off her in the hospital, we found out that there was a splinter of the cougar. We had that splinter hidden away, but unfortunately, I do not know where it went. We kept it hidden for a long time. It was a small piece of metal, tangled in her dress, and it tore off her entire hip. As it hurt her, it tore her side to the bone, at the hip.”

  • "Then they told me I didn't say hello properly, when I wanted to go to school, like daycare. They told me that I do not say 'Good job' and I do not say 'comrade' and I say 'sir'. I said: 'Is that a wrong greeting - good day?'" - 'Only honour to work.' So I wasn't allowed to study and I was pulled over all over the communist party district, due to the fact that I didn't greet 'Honor to work' and that I was evasive - I didn't join the Youth Union, no one got me there."

  • "Once, when we were in the garden, there was an air raid. We couldn't go anywhere, so we were there and we heard such a roar of planes as they buzzed. We saw how the sky sparkled and such tinsel fell down just like the ones up on a Christmas tree; silver papers made of tinfoil on strips. They were falling from the sky; planes were dropping it so that the Germans would not aim or shoot at them. They flew somewhere else, they did not bomb anything, but it was a giant roar. And the sky glittered much. We then ran down the street and collected the tins, whatever we could take."

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    Praha, 24.11.2021

    (audio)
    duration: 01:07:02
    media recorded in project The Stories of Our Neigbours
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I did not say honor to work and comrade

Eva Hájková (en)
Eva Hájková (en)
photo: Archiv pamětnice

Eva Hájková was born on August 11, 1934 in Prague, where she also lived through World War II. After that, she was involved in scouting until the organization was abolished by the communists. After a year of studying at the health-social secondary school, the institution was abolished and she started working. She then completed her education remotely while studying in evenings. She worked at Tesla Hloubětín as a clerk in the claims department. She was not allowed to study full-time due to a poor staffing profile. She lived her whole life in Prague - Vršovice.