When the occupiers arrived, we thought they will stay here forever
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Marie Jílková, née Mlynářová, was born on 25 September 1949. She spent her childhood at a family farm in secluded homestead Dědek which was located in the then Polička district. Her father died early so she together with her mother, younger brother and grandmother stayed had to take care of the farm alone. At the beginning of 1960s her mother could not face the pressure and bullying from communists anymore and she joined the cooperative farm JZD. Marie was later apprenticed as a shop assistant and got married in 1974. She and her husband raised seven children. They were secretly meeting with members of underground church. They helped to copy and even distribute samizdat literature. At the end of 1980s they for instance signed the petition Několik vět and the Augustin Navrátil’s petition for the solution of unsatisfactory religion situation in Czechoslovakia. First, they excitedly welcomed the year 1989 but after few months their former euphoria became bitter. Her husband started a business but he tragically died in 2004. After his death, Marie Jílková occupies herself with pottery and painting and occasionally she exhibits her artworks.
