Libuše Janková

* 1948

  • "My husband went to apply for a passport. What happened was... There was a queue at the office, a waiting room full of people with only enough chairs for some, and we waited for a long time until it was finally my husband's turn. He went in and said he wanted a passport. The officer sitting there started yelling at him unbelievably. My husband opened the door and walked out. After a while, the officer opened the door because my husband had left his sweater on the chair. He literally threw the sweater at his feet, said to take it, and he would never get a passport in his life. We left. My husband never got a passport, ever."

  • "The worst thing was when the StB came to us in 1970 or 71; it was either 1970 but more likely 1971. I didn't even know there was such a thing because my husband never talked about it. I was at home and answered the door holding one year-old Martinka in my arms. They wanted to know who we were seeing, who was writing to us and calling us. They were insistent; I didn't know anything and of course I cried. Then they left me alone, saying that they were leaving but I was obliged to report everything."

  • "But peasants' children were not involved. Then again, they had the misfortune of not being allowed into school. I remember that when I went to the optional ninth grade, they called in all the farmer children; children from Přáslavice, Mrsklesy, Kocourovec and Bukovany all went to Velká Bystřice. My classmate Marta Košová, an excellent student and excellent girl, didn't get anywhere and went to work at Moravia straight from the ninth grade because they were kulaks. They called all the children to the school office and told them they had to choose a school that would benefit the cooperative. They didn't let them go to any other school."

  • Celé nahrávky
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    Olomouc, 28.07.2025

    (audio)
    délka: 01:40:35
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the region - Central Moravia
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

When the StB first came to us, it was a shock

Libuše Janková in 1967
Libuše Janková in 1967
zdroj: Witness's archive

Libuše Janková, née Dostálová, was born in Bystrovany on 28 January 1946. She grew up with her grandmother, a Masaryk supporter and a proud member of Sokol. She grew up in the 1950s and 60s, witnessing the consolidation of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia and the unequal opportunities among her peers - such as that kulaks‘ children were not allowed to study. When she met her husband Herbert Janka, she had no idea of his foreign citizenship. She learned of his birth in Vienna and his interesting family story shortly before their wedding. She later realised what a problem her husband‘s nationaltiy was for the regime at the time and for their family. The family was often under surveillance by the StB who visited uninvited and unexpected. At the time of filming for Memory of Nation in 2025, she was living in Olomouc, enjoying her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.