Hana Jirsáková

* 1944

  • "They didn't treat me badly in the second grade. They would kick it, yeah. But since they were threatened with losing their place, had they recommended me to school, they rather did not. I understand that they were interested in the family too. On the contrary, as I said, the math, for example, was my minor problem. And when I didn't understand something, the school principal actually repeated it again, looking at me, there on the board again... Do you understand? When I nodded... I can't say. But so they themselves were probably confused about what will be, how it will be. A lot of them were party members just for the sake of ... because ... just because. And this is where Grandpa's grandfather asked, "And hello, if it weren't for the cadre she'd had, she'd do the school?" - "One hundred percent, both of you. He admitted that."

  • "I went to fifth grade in Štěrboholy. And then my grandfather and grandmother, who were also evicted in Kvíčko, took me and my sister, it was in the Slaný district, now it's Kladno. There was one large room and a kitchen. Every morning we folded in the couch so you could walk there. And we folded it out every night. But well, it worked. So, I actually went there in the second grade, at that time there were eighth grades in total. I did some final exams. Grandpa was trying to get me to some school, because my sister and I had honours. I was told that I would not be a valid citizen, so that the application would be rejected. Grandpa wrote the appeal, to no avail. So, I went to Kotona at the age of fourteen and a half, then I worked in Benar, it was a cotton spinning mill. I was actually yarning. My sister trained as a cutter."

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    Dolní Jirčany, 28.03.2019

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    duration: 01:31:10
    media recorded in project The Stories of Our Neigbours
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A labourer that came back a little different

Hana Jirsáková
Hana Jirsáková
photo: Archiv Hany Jirsákové

Hana Jirsáková was born on February 20, 1944 in Jirčany, Central Bohemia. Her family was one of the richer ones, because they had a farm, but in 1952 she had to move out as part of nationalization and lost her farm. They were forced to move to a brickyard in Štěrboholy and then lived in various places in the Central Bohemia. The family regained their house and garden in 1979. The witness went through several jobs because she could not go to study. She started working as a yarner, later found a job in scrap metal and later became a dietitian at IKEM in Prague, where she remained until her retirement.