Jaromíra Jirků

* 1953

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  • "And here in Pelhřimov, at the high school, but also at the industrial school, at the secondary schools, they simply began to organize a so-called "rememberance ceremony for Palach". And it was organized by professors, they were at the head, it was a parade that went from the grammar school from the industrial school. We gathered in the square in absolute silence. Nobody spoke at all, we had tricolours on our coats. And we arrived at the town square where they were giving a speech — I can’t say exactly who it was, but I think it was the headmaster of the grammar school, Mr. Burian. And because my dad was very proactive and had access to the tower, he knew exactly when we’d be in the square. So he went up to the tower and played the national anthem on the trumpet, as well as Masaryk’s songs — ‘Ach synku, synku’ and then he also played ‘Čechy krásné, Čechy mé’.”

  • "My mother was in the hospital permanently, and because we lived right next to the hospital and were adjacent to the fence, she would come over the fence to check on us to make sure we were OK. She always called out to us - and they were obviously getting some information already in the hospital, so they always told us, 'The tanks are coming, they're already at Jihlava, don't go anywhere. Don't go out!' Because we were on the main road. Then my dad came home, so he was already with us. Actually, the whole house, as I said, those related families used to gather at our house and we listened all night what was going on. One night there were tanks and armored Russian cars parked all over that street. And we were scared because the hospital fence was covered with signs against the Russians. Most often it was: 'Ivan, go home, Natasha is waiting for you.' And other signs. And then they were shooting, they were pulling it down, they were just insane. It was unpleasant. We had a pig at that time, because my parents were going to build, so they were also preparing in that way. And my dad just said, 'Just don't let the pig grunt or we'll have them here.'"

  • "And that's when the Second World War, which they experienced as children, started to come back to them. So I was given money and my parents said, 'Go to the Kastrol.' That was the store here, that was the present Far House, as they say, across from the museum, the corner house under the museum, and there was a convenience store, groceries. There was all the pastries, flour, everything. And he said to me, `What people are going to buy, you're going to buy too.' He gave me a large amount of money and I got this kind of barrow too and I went with that. And by that time I had met my friends on the street, because they apparently got the same order, and we went to the square. There was already a line in front of the Kastrol and people had these little transistors and they were listening to what was going on."

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    Pelhřimov, 14.11.2024

    (audio)
    duration: 51:03
    media recorded in project The Stories of Our Neigbours
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Tanks are already at Jihlava, don’t go out

Jaromíra Jirků in her youth
Jaromíra Jirků in her youth
photo: archive of the wittness

Jaromíra Jirků was born on September 4, 1953 in Pelhřimov. She remembers the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops in August 1968, when soldiers destroyed anti-occupation signs on the fence adjacent to their house. In January 1969, she took part in the commemoration of Jan Palach on Pelhřimov Square. She graduated from the Faculty of Education at Charles University and in 1976 she started teaching at the school in Božejov. After ten years she got a job in Pelhřimov. She married and has two sons. In 2024 she lived in Pelhřimov and with her husband she devoted herself to the history of the town.