Marta Pospíchalová

* 1938

  • “It was always based on whether my husband knew who I was meeting. And that I'm not going anywhere. I always said, 'Come on, I'm not going, I'm not going to show off.' Once they even told me that they´d throw someone under my car. I got mad because I was brought up by my dad to tell the truth and say what I think. So my parents raised me. I am grateful to them for that. And I actually pounded the policemen by my arguments.”

  • “So I got out of it, I thought. But they were like the devil on every occasion. Still, if I wouldn't look after my colleagues the first time I went out. I said, 'Why should I watch them?' I disarmed them, but it wasn't intentionally. I kept asking why. Before I understood it all. There were more of them than models driving with us. I have some instinct for people, although sometimes I get wrong too. At the plane, the girls always said, 'Hey, who are they?' And I recognized them. They were kind of like they had a brand.”

  • “The state police contacted me when I came to Prague. I don't know why I was chosen. I was so stupid back then that I thought I was going to become Mata Hari. They wanted to send me to the GDR to some school before I understood it better. Then they said he would introduce me to someone, it was in a conspiracy apartment, I remember that. I quite appreciated it. So I was stupid and confused. Before I realized that everything would fall, my personal life. I was happy in Prague. I didn't know if my career would start. I went to make exams to became a tanker, so I was caught by the war. But I realized very quickly that it wasn't my cup of coffee, that I couldn't play something and get something out of it. I don't know, I guess I must have been protected by a whole fleet of guardian angels.”

  • Full recordings
  • 1

    Praha, 04.12.2018

    (audio)
    duration: 01:48:29
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
  • 2

    Praha, 09.01.2019

    (audio)
    duration: 01:45:54
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
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They wanted me to inform on others. And I had no idea why.

Portrait in 1960s
Portrait in 1960s
photo: archiv pamětnice

Marta Pospíchalová, born Kaňovská, was born on 12 December 1938 in Velehrad. Her father Antonín Kaňovský was involved in the anti-fascist resistance during World War II. In her childhood she witnessed the tragic events associated with the liberation of Velehrad. Since 1948 she lived with her parents in Javorník, where her father was a town mayor. Then the family moved to Olomouc. She wanted to join the army in the 1950s. Under the influence of communist ideas, she was convinced that as a soldier she would help build a new and better homeland. On the train journey to the military school, however, she did not happen to get to the right station and accidentally arrived in Prague, which was a crucial moment of her life. The filmmakers noticed her in Prague the day after, and she was offered the opportunity to make extras. Then she started working as a model. Soon she became one of the most famous models in socialist Czechoslovakia and traveled many countries of the world. She was also given theater and film roles. She was friends with a number of prominent personalities and was a partner to actor Milos Kopecky. Because of her contacts, she was contacted several times by the State Security, who wanted to make her a collaborator. She worked in the model world for fifty years.