Jitka Roubíčková

* 1948

  • "Sokol played a big role in 1918, which is mentioned in the book about Český Dub, it is stated that on 3 November 1918, the inhabitants of Český Dub gathered on the square, they were being led by a parade of Sokol members, and on the balcony of the Český Dub town hall, a committee met, which included [my husband´s] Luděk's grandfather, Mr. Ludvík Roubíček. And they in fact received documents about the establishment of the republic from Turnov, because Český Dub at that time belonged to the town of Turnov as an administrative district, and the new first law about the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic was being read there [on the balcony]. Luděk's grandfather, Mr. Ludvík Roubíček, was then elected to the administrative council until the first elections were held, which were in 1921. And then he actually became, as it is written in the book published on the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the republic, published in 1927, that he was the first Czech mayor of Český Dub in 257 years."

  • "Once the one who worked at the airport, so it was August '68, and she said was going on holiday, she was going by plane. And then we were sort of [sitting] there in the evening, smoking, drinking, packing. They had a taxi booked for 4 o'clock in the morning, and they left, but they came back a little while later. I said, 'What are you doing here, you're supposed to be on a plane?!' Well, girl, I can't. The airport's closed, there are huge planes landing and armoured vehicles coming out.' I said, 'You made that up, it's a great joke, it´s not possible, why and what does it mean? And so we were thinking, what could it be, that we would be able to get rid of the communists, that it would be the Americans? And so we were there fooling around, laughing about it, and we were like, no, but that's so weird. So we turned on the radio and then we couldn't believe it."

  • "And in August of the sixty-ninth year, it was very sad, very terrible, because we were being driven off the street near Jungmannovo Square, actually part of Národní Street, by militiamen, fellows in grey uniforms of Czech nationality, and I thought to myself, this is really terrible. We ran somewhere...where is the garden, well, you see how it slipped my mind. Františkánská [garden]. How we used to sit there in the sixties, I used to go to the Semafor [theatre] that year in '67, it was just amazing, the few years I was there in Prague. I have recalled that, because originally Semafor was there for the longest time, it was located in that passage as you walked into the Františkánská Garden."

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Liberec, 27.01.2022

    (audio)
    délka: 01:49:39
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

We were being driven off the streets in August 1968 by the Czechs, fellows in grey uniforms

Jitka Roubíčková in the 1980s
Jitka Roubíčková in the 1980s
zdroj: Witness´s archive

Jitka Roubíčková, née Kašparová, was born on 30 July 1948 in Prague. She soon moved with her parents to East Bohemia, where she spent an almost idyllic childhood. She lived through the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops in August 1968 in Prague, where she had returned to study and work. In August a year later, she was driven off an anti-occupation demonstration by Czech militiamen. She moved to Liberec to join her future husband, Luděk Roubíček, an artist of many professions. They were members of the Hobby Club Liberec, and Luděk Roubíček exhibited at the First Private Flat Exhibition. They raised three children, the whole family was involved in the creation and performances of the Flying Theatre on Wheels, in which children with disabilities also perform. In 2022 Jitka Roubíčková was living in Liberec. We were able to record her story thanks to the support of the Statutory City of Liberec.