You can’t imagine what it meant to step on Czech ground after twenty years
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Eliška Ciklová (Cikl), née Žaloudková, was born on June 7, 1929 in Prague. She has been a member of Disman’s children’s radio ensemble since childhood, and has been involved in radio and later television throughout her professional life. After the February coup, she left the Disman’s (now Fučík’s) ensemble, but remained the editor of Czechoslovak Radio. She first worked in the children’s and youth department and met her husband Ivan Cikl there. In the 1960s, they worked together at Czechoslovak Television. In August 1968, they spent a holiday in Yugoslavia, where they learned about the occupation of Czechoslovakia. They did not return home and went to Norway, where Ivan Cikl got a job. They lived in Norway for two years and in 1970 moved to New Zealand, where Eliška worked in television. In 1978, the couple moved back to Europe, this time to Munich. Both worked at Radio Free Europe. After 1989, they considered returning home, but eventually did not return due to health reasons.
