Jaroslav Ulrich

* 1929

  • "My father was a barber, he went to do the make-up of actors for the theatre, and aside from that he had talent in drawing backgrounds for them, that is what I grew up in then. As the greatest citizen of Pozdeň I consider Mr. Fojtík, even if I only know him from storytelling. He died in the sixties, but oh all the things he managed to do! In Srbeč he founded a Sokol group, and he wanted to found one here with us as well, but due to insufficient interest there at least was created a local branch of the Sokol from Srbeč. And he played in the theatre! For example 'Mýlka v poschodí' was played in the year 1903, the main role was played my Mr. Fojtík, the second role was played by the teacher Ms. Ludmila Wolfová. It was a teacher, who was murdered. There was an amazing group of actors there. But aside from the theatre group there were firefighters, sporting football players, there was an excellent Sokol, which was led by the directing teacher Mr. Buzický, who also went into such plays as Maryša, Naši furianti, Otec from Jirásek, Lucerna… all of that took place there and I was there beside it all."

  • "It was interesting that in the Baterie, I had also told this to Mr. Červenek (a regional writer), that the Baterie crew, who lived in Baterie, were unhappy at the fate of a factory worker. It was interesting, when I had been at the enterprise about six Sundays, Šrámek told me, to not join the party and he founded a group in Baterie with his daughter. And so I was not in the party, but was also not in the Youth Union. My task was that, whenever there was a party meeting, to decorate. It was easy, there were posters everywhere. And so I did the decorations and went home. But back then told me, that I have to go to the meeting, that it was for everyone. At the meeting one person started speaking and wanted for Easter to be cancelled, about how many enterprises had already signed it. I could not stand it and I said, that an idiot came up with it. Of course the comrades heard it and went to my boss, to have him fire me. I defended myself, that Easter was the most wonderful holiday for both children and grown men. Šrámek joined me and also the director, and so it did not go through. Despite that Čermáková went to speak to Šrámek, to have him fire me, that I had not been there very long and if I can dare to do so much... But also others stood by me, for example Ms. Hanzlová from Páleč. In the year 1956, when there was a counterrevolution in Hungary, the comrades cried at how: 'What will happen to us, we have such a beautiful cowshed and pigshed.' And Krbková from our municipality told them that: 'What would happen, all of the comrades would be locked in there.' The comrades immediately went off: 'Master, how dare you say that!' Mr. Beran smiled and warned them, that Vlasta was the most capable girl from the workshop and does the most work."

  • "I was conscripted into mandatory military service in Plzeň. Mother grew sick from it and died. She was 47 years old. Immediately on the first of service they asked, who is Ulrich Jaroslav. From the municipality there came to the military a snitch, that I was a reactionary, that I had not joined the Youth Union, nor the party. At the meetup I had shouted, 'Beneš – Tito' and 'without Beneš, without Hana, there wouldn't be Hradčany'. And the mayor, actually the comrade chairman, wrote, that I had to for three months wear sacks in the agricultural co-operative. Only he did not know how to write well and wrote sacks incorrectly, and so they laughed at it in the co-operative. The administrator was a great member of Sokol, and so I had it good there. At mandatory military service I said it like this - they said, that they would verify it. About a month went by, and I had already gathered a group together. The polytechnic said, that they would go to and teach them a lesson for those accusations. During exercises I was injured, had high fevers for two days, penicillin saved me, but I was left with permanent consequences. They liked me in the service, they tried to convince me, to stay in the army, but I did not want to, I was already married, and so it happened, that the commander wrote a letter to the work bureau that after my injury I had limited hand movement."

  • Celé nahrávky
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    Slaný, 25.11.2019

    (audio)
    délka: 42:16
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu The Recollections of Witnesses from Slánsko and Slaný
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

Life in the Slánsko region at the beginning of the 20th century until the present day

Photograph of Jaroslav Ulrich during his fulfillment of mandatory military service in the year 1951
Photograph of Jaroslav Ulrich during his fulfillment of mandatory military service in the year 1951
zdroj: Z majetku pamětníka

Jaroslav Ulrich was born in Pozdeň on the 2nd of June 1929 to the family of the local barber and hairdresser. He went to school in Pozdeň and Mšec. He was conscripted into mandatory military service in Plzeň and after his return he was employed until entering his retirement in the enterprise Bateria Slaný. In his storytelling he remembers the rich tradition of cultural life in the municipality of Pozdeň and also the activity of the local branch of Sokol.