Anastázie Králová

* 1928

  • “Opposite our house there was a garden, the road to Ratiboř, and beyond the road the saw mill, the mill, and houses. In one of the houses, the factory owner, Mr Hájek, had rented a room; and say when the partisans were waiting for some news, or one of them was ill, they were there. Beyond the houses flowed the River Ratibořka, so I put some nappies in a washtub and under the nappies I hid pots with food. I would bring them food there and place it on the step by the door and then go to wash the nappies. As I went back, I took the pots, put them under the nappies, and went. I did that kind of work.”

  • “One time Mr Hájek said he didn’t like the situation, and what to do with me. Mrs Hájková was expecting soon. I couldn’t go home. My parents lived by the factory. I said I’d go to the hospital, that I’ve got water on the knee. One time they had some kind of meeting at the saw mill, and we saw gunfire there. There were dead people there. I don’t know. That there was supposed to be some confidante there, and the Germans ambushed it and things were bad. Mr Hájek didn’t come back either at night or in the morning. So I told Mrs Hájková I’d have to go to hospital. Do you know how much fear I experienced in hospital? Eyes glued to the door, waiting to see if the Germans would come in, if they’d happen upon me there in hospital. Afterwards, when I returned home, they locked up Mrs Hájková. But she was to give birth soon after, so they released her. So I went there again. And again both the Germans and the partisans would come. Mr Machálek had his nerves ruined from it, and he went crazy.”

  • “Or when we went to Vsetín, we went barefoot. Before Vsetín there was a kind of trough there with water flowing through it and a bench. We washed our feet there, put our shoes on, and entered the town. And when we were returning we took our shoes off again and went barefoot. Not just us. All the children did that.”

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    Odry, 07.01.2015

    (audio)
    duration: 01:20:21
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
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She brought the partisans food hidden under nappies

Anastázie Králová
Anastázie Králová
photo: archiv pamětnice

Anastázie Králová, née Janošová, was born on 20 September 1928 in Ratiboř. In 1943 she became the village’s messenger for the resistance group Pro vlast (For The Homeland), and later for the 1st Czechoslovak Partisan Brigade of Jan Žižka (named after a famous Czech Hussite general). She provided important information and also food and clothing. After a shoot-out at the Ratiboř saw mill in late October 1944, she was in danger of being found out. She made use of the fact she was ill, and she hid in hospital for some time. After her return she continued to be active as a messenger, although the house in which she lived was under surveillance of the Gestapo. After the war she learnt to be seamstress, and for many years she lived with her husband in the village of Loučky near the town of Odra. In 1988 they moved to Odra, and she lives there to this day.