Marie Vašková

* 1941

  • "We were also taught religion. We had a catechist who was very strict. When we interrupted, especially when the boys did, they had to hold the ruler on their fingers with their arms raised forward. That was the punishment. Otherwise it was good there. I just remember once my teacher, her name was Ognarova, wrote me a message for my mother to sign. Somehow I ruined it, I probably crumpled it, and because I wanted it to be nice, I copied it all with the signature of the teacher. And for that I was in trouble."

  • "We had a newsagent, a stall where we sold tobacco. My mother bought it from a disabled person who no longer wanted to do it. It was opposite the church. Mom didn't have a job, so she bought it from him. Once every fortnight or once a month we went to Opava with a big luggage to buy tobacco products. And I remember there was a reform at the time. It changed 5: 1 for under three hundred crowns per person, otherwise it was more expensive, 50: 1. At that time, my mother had just bought material for a newsagent's shop for about twenty thousand. And when they suddenly announced the currency, we were left with 900 crowns. And that was just enough for me, my mom and brother to exchange. "

  • "We had a small garden behind the house and there was an apple tree. Once, a bomb fell there and the tree flew to the roof of the house. It was on the side where we slept behind the wall. We were afraid that it would happen to us, too. Then the Russians came. They didn't stay with us much. At that time we raised two cows and also a pig, so beets and potatoes were cooked for them. The soldiers were hungry, and when they saw the steamers of potatoes, they just said ‘Davay! Davay!’ and they put potatoes from those large pots into backpacks so that they could eat because they were hungry. "

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Hard times taught me that one should be content with what they have

Marie Vašková, the beginning of the 1960s
Marie Vašková, the beginning of the 1960s
zdroj: Archiv Marie Vaškové

Marie Vašková, née Eichlerová, was born on May 13, 1941 in Hrabyně in the Opava region. Her father Jan Eichler was a private carpenter and joiner. When she was less than two years old, he cut off his fingers at work, got tetanus, contracted typhoid fever in the hospital, and died. Before the arrival of the front in the spring of 1945, she went with her mother and younger brother to stay with relatives in the neighboring Pusta Polom. There she experienced the arrival of the Red Army. Their house in Hrabyně was destroyed during the liberation struggles. After the war, the mother built a new house, and made a living on a small farm. Marie was in contact with the family of the first-republic politician and economist Karel Engliš, who had been in forced exile in Hrabyně since the 1950s. At the age of fifteen, she left to work as at the Tepna textile factory in Náchod. After three years, she returned to Hrabyně and began working at Klement Gottwald‘s New Ironworks in Ostrava. After her marriage, she moved to Šenov u Havířova, where she worked at the post office until her retirement.