The regime took away my father’s trade and freedom
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Anna Kroulová, née Grulichová, was born on 13 February 1946 in Malé Hradisko as the youngest of three children of Marie and Vincenc Grulich. Her father was originally a tailor who gradually built a prosperous clothing factory in Prostějov. Before the war he built a house No. 136 in Malé Hradisko with his own clothing workshop, a pub and later a cinema. His mother was a housewife and then helped his father with the running of the pub. After February 1948, her father’s business was nationalized. In 1952 he was conscripted to the Auxiliary Engineering Corps (PTP) in Komárno, where he suffered seven heart attacks due to the harsh conditions and exhaustion. After his release from forced labour, he was unable to find a job for a long time, until he finally started working as a cutter at the Clothing Plant (OP) Prostějov. The persecution affected the whole family; the mother had to plant trees in the forest for minimum wage and the daughters were forbidden to study. Under threat of further imprisonment, her father finally agreed to join the Communist Party. Anna trained as a ladies’ dressmaker at OP Prostějov in 1961-1964. In 1965 she married František Kroul, a butcher, whose family’s trade was also nationalised by the regime. The couple lived in Dolní Dobrouč and raised a daughter Petra (1966) and a son Pavel (1972). Anna worked as a manager of a textile shop and later in various economic positions at Jednota, most recently at the headquarters in Ústí nad Orlicí. In 2006, she and her husband returned to Malé Hradisko. František Kroul died in May 2025. Vincenc Grulich was never rehabilitated, as all military documents proving his involvement in the Auxiliary Engineering Corps were allegedly shredded.
