Jaroslav Šťastný

* 1946

  • "I couldn't move because I was no longer twenty or twenty-five and I had been employed for a long time in Stuttgart and I had an employment contract there, which I also had to keep, or I wanted to keep, so it was more of a patriotic feeling, feeling to be Czech again. "

  • "So at every admissions interview to a conservatory or university or wherever, the first question was, because my uncle emigrated in 1949 to Germany, then to the United Kingdom and then to the USA, and he was my godfather, so they asked me, whether I know, how high is the unemployment in the USA. I was prepared, I always answered:" At least six millions." And then the interview continued. "

  • "I emigrated in 1970, in October, on January 13, our daughter was born. So we wanted because otherwise the three of us and the child would probably not manage to emigrate later, so we still traveled in such a way, one of those last chances to get out with a trip abroad. No problems, no border crossings, just get on a plane and fly away in peace. Well, it was still possible that year, in 1970, that autumn, two years after the occupation, many things were still possible. Afterwards, it was really hard."

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Rumburk, 11.12.2019

    (audio)
    délka: 59:00
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu The Stories of Our Neigbours
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

That patriotic feeling to be a Czech again

Jaroslav Stastny during studies at JAMU
Jaroslav Stastny during studies at JAMU
zdroj: archiv pamětníka

Jaroslav Šťastný was born on December 20, 1946 in Cheb. His father was the director of the local music school and also taught Jaroslav music. From childhood, he played the violin and after primary school, he entered a music conservatory in Kroměříž and subsequently Janacek Academy of Performance Arts in Brno. In 1970 he emigrated to Germany, settling in Stuttgart, where he began playing in a chamber orchestra. Jaroslav acquired German citizenship and travelled the world. After the Velvet Revolution, he regained his Czechoslovak citizenship and in 2010 he settled in Doubice in the Šluknov foothills.