We had no holiday
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Helena Spandel, nee Czakon, was born on March 24, 1928 in Pruchna, which is a part of Cieszyn district. She was raised in a clerical-peasant family, professing Catholicism. Her father Karol Czakon run a restaurant and shop. Her mother was a housewife and raised six children. Czakon family lived in a building of railway station in Pruchna. They also had a house in the countryside. Her mother, Elżbieta nee Zawadzka, was raised in an adoptive family in Pruchna. Helena attended Polish primary school in Pruchna and continued education at German school after an outbreak of World War II in 1939. In 1945, Czakon family evacuated to Kończyce Wielkie to their relatives’ house and Helena’s father buried valuables in seventeen places in the garden. After the war, Helena attended Cieszyn secondary school and attended Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo School in Cieszyn for a year. Then, she completed an intensive one-year trade course and found a job in an administration department of the dairy in Pruchna. She soon met her future husband, Karol Spandel who came from Kończyce Małe. Two and a half years later, Helena and Karol got married. Five years later, they decided to build a house in Kończyce Małe. Her two sons came into the world: Stanisław and Czesław and Helena combined career with bringing up children. She later moved to the Dairy Cooperative in Kończyce Małe. Helena lives now at the same house with a son Czesław and his family. She speaks Cieszyn dialect and Polish fluently.
