Anna Hanzalová

* 1953

  • "I also had problems with that when I was in JAS. 'Join the party!' I was at SSM for at least two years as a duty. You know how the personnel reviews were written at the time, and when we got them available after the revolution, I didn't read anything good about myself."

  • "They were building or driving. The rumble, I still have it in me. Just when I look at the situation in Ukraine, I am terrified. Fortunately, it was not so bloody in our country... We did not learn how it went in Prague for example. The August 21st. You understand. One couldn't at all. It wasn't until many years later that we saw the horrors on Wenceslas Square and in front of the radio organization."

  • "Then, in 1946, just after the war, my dad decided to establish a cooperative because he already knew at the time, at least he said that at the time he knew the Communists would take it from him anyway, because he would not last long with that private business. And it happened in 1948. So, in 1946 my dad organized a founding general meeting of twenty members, which was among the conditions of the establishment of the cooperative. It was also not an easy matter, because it was conditional, membership entry was conditioned by a financial contribution. People were poor and had no money and did not trust that it could happen at all, that the establishment could happen. Well, he still succeeded, and so, the cooperative was formed slowly."

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    Stráž nad Nežárkou, 09.03.2022

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    duration: 01:54:19
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they let him stay in his own company out of mercy. My father knew that the Communists would take his company anyway

Anna Hanzalová in 1970 - still Janouchová then
Anna Hanzalová in 1970 - still Janouchová then
photo: archive of the witness

Anna Hanzalová was born on June 7, 1953 in Jindřichův Hradec. Since childhood, she was fundamentally influenced by the work of her father František Janouch, the founder of the JAS cooperative, which produced toys all over the world. After the coup in 1948, he was given a regular job out of mercy, from which he continued to manage and innovate the operation of the workshop in Stráž nad Nežárkou. Anna Hanzalová continued her craft and distance furniture studies in Prague in Žižkov. Until 1972, František Janouch participated in the development of toys that were sold in massive numbers to Western countries. Anna Hanzalová took his place after he had left. After the Velvet Revolution, she and her husband Jan founded the rival company ANJA, where they made toys according to her and her father’s old designs. Until 2008, she worked at JAS in development. The company finally closed in 2010. Today (2022), she and her husband continue to produce toys in Stráž nad Nežárkou in small productions.