Alena Heinrichová

* 1943

  • "So the werwolfs also organized the crossings of the Germans, who emigrated from the border to Germany. So they were only allowed to take one suitcase and take them away, but they had a lot of property here. And the werwolfs brought them back across the borders so that they could still bring the things they left here. We slept on iron beds and suddenly firing started outside, normally the wounds started cracking outside, and my mother said, 'Girls, girls,get under the bed!' So we both crawled under the beds, we took pillows and cushions and just slept there. At that time, the end of war in 1945 it still looked like this. Well, that's what it looked like. Well, the Ústí was incredibly bombed out, everything, even though there was a big chemical and medical industry, it was all useless."

  • "We are the war generation. We came out of unbelievable misery, and like when you're somewhere... and you're in a mess, you're always going to see who's leading you forward. And there was nothing here but the communists who led us forward. We knew nothing else. I did not know capitalism firsthand, I did not know the multi-party government. I only knew the government of one of these parties, so I couldn't choose from anything. I know it wasn't right, I know it could have been done differently, but at the time we didn't know anything else. So let me tell you one thing. Personally, I am left-wing today. I can't be anything else, because my ancestors and ancestors were workers and maids, so I had no luxury house or factory anywhere, or any of us. But in the end, my grandfather Staňková was imprisoned twice, because they were organising folk camps."

  • "Look, when I saw... I've never been to a demonstration or alike. There was much excitement, and it's beautiful, it's perfect and all. I came home, turned on the television and saw the Letna Plain, everyone was shouting and ringing their keys. So the first thing I remembered was those Hitler movies. I'm telling you the way it is, I'm not going to pretend here. I remembered the first Hitler movies, all the yelling, "Siegh Heil, Siegh Heil!" That's how it was, that's how it hit me, like that. Think what you want. I don't lie or steal. That was the thing, then it went on, of course. The owners started coming to me. I have been in the collective farm since January or February 1989 and in December 1989 they came there and started attacking me and yelling: 'You stole our land! You ruined my building! ‘Only in a year, what a nonsense indeed. It's just that the people were so euphoric that, in my opinion, they didn't think wisely anymore."

  • Full recordings
  • 1

    Loděnice, 05.03.2020

    (audio)
    duration: 01:13:52
    media recorded in project The Stories of Our Neigbours
  • 2

    online , 09.12.2020

    (audio)
    duration: 01:19:47
    media recorded in project The Stories of Our Neigbours
Full recordings are available only for logged users.

I can’t be different

Alena Heinrichová in 2020
Alena Heinrichová in 2020
photo: Post Bellum

Alena Heinrichová, née Staňková, was born on July 12, 1943 in the town of Loděnice near Beroun. After the end of the war, her family moved to Ústí nad Labem to settle on the border. In Ústí, the family experienced attacks by so-called werwolfs. Alena has been interested in horses since she was a child, and she went to study at the University of Agriculture in Prague. After graduating, she started working as a farm technician in a farm in Řehlovice. In 1976 she returned to Loděnice. Since 1989, she has led a unified agricultural cooperative (collective farm) in nearby Cháňava. Alena perceives the Velvet Revolution and subsequent restitution negatively. Alena Heinrichová is still a member of the Communist Party and works in the Loděnice City Council.