Faith kept my head above water
Milada Filipovičová, née Helešicová, was born on October 13th, 1929 in Moravská Nová Ves. She had three siblings. When she was seven years old their mother died and their father soon found a new wife who was very hard working, but very strict with her stepchildren. Milada had excellent grades in school but her stepmother didn’t let her enroll in a high school - all of the siblings had to work at the family farm. After World War II she married and had five children. In the 1950s the family was forced to hand over their property to the agricultural cooperative (JZD) and to work there themselves. They refused to enter the Communist Party and kept on going to the church, even though their children got bad references in school as a result. Their sons Jiří and Mirek emigrated to Canada in the 1980s. The parents didn’t know about their children’s intentions and only learned about their departure from State Security officers. The other siblings weren’t allowed to study at university and had to enroll in vocational schools. After the revolution their son Mirek came back from Canada and lives with his mother. Her husband died a couple of years after the revolution.
