Plzeň’s Karlov was left to crumble for years but the locals loved it dearly
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Karel Kučera was born in Plzeň’s Karlov quarter, which no longer exists today, on 28 July 1940. His father Karel Kučera Sr was a member of the management board of the cooperative that built the local Lidový dům (People’s House; the local community centre). Nicknamed ‘Liďák’, the facility was a popular local hub that included a pub, a cinema, a library, and a dance hall where dances called ‘fajf’ were organised. Karel Kučera’s father used to play records during the dances, effectively becoming Plzeň’s first DJ. The witness recalls the devastating air raid of the Škoda plant in April 1945. He also remembers a Karlov local who was persecuted due to revolting against the currency reform in 1953. Having completed high school of electrical engineering, Karel Kučera obtained his tertiary education in the field (he completed some of the latter on a part-time basis) and worked at the machining section of the Škoda Plzeň plant, which was named the V. I. Lenin Plant in 1951–1965 for ideological reasons. He took a business trip to Moscow in the 1980s and was shocked by the local low standard of life. At the time of recording in 2023, Karel Kučera was living peacefully in his cottage in Krtín.
