Marie Voznicová

* 1939

  • "It was very hard work, but the worst was in the winter. We even cried. We only had pioneer shoes on our feet, and it was freezing and cold outside. There were "koksáky" (metal baskets in which the fire burned), but we came to the koksáky, we warmed up, but as soon as we got outside, we were already cold again. That's how it was. In summer, it was a thousand degrees again in the furnaces, and you had to climb up there and lubricate them. We lubricated everything that was spinning. It was more of a man's job, but we women did it."

  • "As machine lubrication workers, we had to lubricate everything that was spinning. The worst were the rammers the guys used to ram the coal. It all had to be cleaned. We made cleaning rags, which we called "pucvol". Sweep, clean and oil. If the guys couldn't move something, they would already be looking for us and swearing at us. So we had to clean and lubricate everything. When we came to work in the morning, there was coal everywhere, so we had to sweep first. And once a week we were given the oil. We used to call it "šmir". We had a two-wheeler and two machine lubrication workers used to haul large barrels of oil on it. There was a plenty of oil. And we had to take it really far. Sometimes the men helped us, but sometimes, when they didn't have time, we slowly carried it one step at a time.''

  • "My dad and I were at the cinema and the sirens started to sound. The planes started flying and shooting. The cinema stopped playing, my dad took me on his shoulders and we ran home. It took us home for about a quarter of an hour and they were shooting. And as we ran to the house, there were big cars in the garden and there were German soldiers. Mom was crying. The Germans moved into our garden. And so we lived there with them. Mom was not allowed to cook, she only had to tend a fire. They made a fire in the garden and cooked eintopf, as they called it, and we had to eat it with them, I remember that. They also had jams and chocolates and they always gave us some. I remember they were fine."

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Ostrava, 12.10.2022

    (audio)
    délka: 01:48:57
  • 2

    Ostrava, 18.10.2022

    (audio)
    délka: 01:28:06
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Working as a machine lubrication worker in a coking plant was nothing to sneeze at. How many times I cried

Marie Voznicová at work in the former ČSA coking Plant in Karviná / 1980s
Marie Voznicová at work in the former ČSA coking Plant in Karviná / 1980s
zdroj: archive of the witness

Marie Voznicová was born as Poskerová on November 8, 1939 in Sedliště in Frýdek-Místek area in the then Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Her father was a miner, her mother occasionally helped the farmers in the fields. Parents used to live in Doubrava. They claimed Czech nationality. After the annexation of Těšín Silesia to the German Empire, they fled to Sedliště in the protectorate. Marie experienced the crossing of the front there in 1945. German and Soviet soldiers changed in their house. After the end of the war, she moved to Doubrava with her parents and siblings. She learned to be a hairdresser. At the age of eighteen, she married Jaroslav Voznica. She had three children with him. From 1974 to 1994, she worked at the ČSA Coking Plant in Karviná as a machine lubrication worker. She lubricated dirty machines and equipment in the operation of blast furnaces. In 2022, she lived as a widow in Karviná.