I had the strength to endure everything
Stáhnout obrázek
Miloslava Knobová, née Císařová, was born on a farm in Kotelsko on 5 June 1936 to an unmarried mother, Amálie Císařová, and a married man, Josef Link. Her father, a renowned healer and spiritualist, was already retired. The mother farmed her farm with her brother František Císař. Josef Link lived alternately in Kotelsko and with his lawful wife in Stará Paka. He was seventy years old when he adopted six-year-old Miloslava. During the war, the family did well, they filled supplies and there was food left for the neighbours. After the February 1948 coup, the Communists ordered deliveries to Amalia Císařová that could not be fulfilled. As punishment, they withheld food and clothes stamps for her entire family. Probably at this time she became mentally ill and, under pressure from the local national committee, was institutionalised in a mental health hospital in Prague, later in Kosmonosy. She spent the rest of her life in institutions. Old Josef Link lived in Stará Paka, also because of the lack of food in Kotelsko. In 1950, his uncle, František Císař, asked the district committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) for at least food stamps, claiming that he was alone on the farm with his 13-year-old niece. Thus, all agricultural work could not be done. After two months, he died in a mental health hospital as a result of interrogation by State Security. The underage witness was left alone without resources. A year later, her father, who was almost 80 years old, also died when he came to visit his daughter. Miloslava Knobová was living in poverty, finished primary school within two years and started working. At the age of fifteen she met her husband, Josef Knob. In 1954, their son was born. Josef was completing his basic military service at the time and the witness lived with his parents. In 1955 the couple moved back to Kotelsko and started farming. Josef Knob worked as a machine locksmith. A year later, his daughter Iva was born. In 1957, the Kotelsko communists forced the Knobs to join the cooperative farm and probably in this year Josef Knob became a member of the Communist Party. In 1968 Miloslava Knobová left the cooperative farm and became a private farmer. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, she gradually reduced her farming activities because her husband was on disability pension. She was widowed in 2013. At the time of recording (2025) she was still active, enjoying her grandchildren and still living in Kotelsko.
