We were looking forward to being able to travel. But then came the occupation
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Marie Hnatyšanová, née Tomaštíková, was born on December 16, 1941 in Zlín. She lived with her parents and brother in the nearby village of Spytihněv. Her mother worked as a primary school teacher, her father was apprenticed to Baťa and later had his own locksmith’s workshop with five employees. After the communist takeover, his father’s workshop was nationalised, yet he had to continue for many years to pay back the money he had borrowed to set it up. After primary school, Marie Hnatyšanová entered the food industrial school in Bzenec. Although she wanted to study medicine, she had no chance to get into her dream school because of her cadre profile. After graduation she got a placement in a freezing plant in Prague. There she soon met her future husband, got married and two and a half years after her arrival she started working at the Food Research Institute. She and her husband raised two daughters. She lived through the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops in Prague, and the following developments were disappointing for her. During the Velvet Revolution she took part in demonstrations. In 2024 she lived in Prague.
