“Partisans who were active near Tovéř and Samotišky were hiding in those woods. My dad had his office in a little house they were renting. I went to see it recently, and today it’s Menšíkova Street. They had a woman there who helped them as a housekeeper. My father always had to send her away so he’d know when the partisans might arrive—they were wounded, and it was very dangerous. Later, he was charged with section 55 for that. He worked here throughout the war. And it was in this very house that the story unfolded in which, together with the Bábler family, they took care of two Russian refugees for a month at the end of the war.”
“I was at grammar school. During the graduation ball, when I was nineteen, Mr. Pěta, the vice headmaster, took me aside in the foyer. He was a real Communist official. I remember it as if it were yesterday. He said to me, ‘So, are you applying to college?’ I replied, ‘Yes.’ And he said, ‘But you won’t get in.’ At the graduation ball! People have all kinds of plans and dreams. Still, I submitted my application. I wasn’t a member of the Socialist Youth Union, so I decided to join. They told me they wouldn’t accept me, but in the end they did. I applied to the Faculty of Arts, majoring in Czech language and art education. I was primarily interested in art education. I took the entrance exams and did everything that was required. Then I received a letter: I hadn’t been accepted because of the high number of applicants or something like that. So I wasn’t accepted.”
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Alena Kocábová was born on 3 February 1955, in Brno. Shortly after her birth, she was adopted by Vilém Kocáb and Sylva Kocábová. She never met her biological parents. Her mother, Sylva, was from Prague and was related to the adventurer Julius Payer, after whom an island in the Arctic is named. Her grandfather, Alois Payer, ran a car parts shop in Prague, which the Communists nationalized. The shock caused him to suffer a stroke, and he died. During World War II, her father, a district physician in Svatý Kopeček, secretly treated partisans. Her parents also hid Soviet refugees from a death march for several weeks. After the war, they moved to Zábřeh. Following the establishment of the communist regime, her father’s medical practice and her mother’s house in Prague were nationalized. Alena Kocábová graduated from grammar school in Zábřeh. However, she was not admitted to university. Her evaluation stated that she was a member of a secret society led by a Jesuit—a reference to the rhythmic worship services. She taught at a kindergarten for a year and was only admitted to university thanks to a recommendation from her employer. She studied Czech language and art education at Palacký University. Beginning in 1979, she taught art at the community school in Zábřeh and also devoted herself to her own creative work—graphic art and, starting in 2001, silk painting. During the Velvet Revolution, she participated in demonstrations in Zábřeh and became a member of the Civic Forum. At the time of recording in 2026, she was still living in Zábřeh.
