Ten years is a long time
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Jana Grebíková, née Klímová, was born on the 26th of April in 1947 in Strání, in the vicinity of Uherské Hradiště, Zlín Region, as the youngest of three children. Her father Vítězslav Klíma came from a Jewish family that ran a distillery and restaurant in Strání. Her mother was a teacher. In the years 1940 to 1945 her father lived in hiding in Slovakia in Ivanke pri Dunaji, and after the war he returned to Strání. Vítězslav Klíma was arrested in July 1951 as part of a purge (called Operation Bee) against an anti-state group based in the Uherský Brod District; he was sentenced to 25 years of prison. After his arrest, his wife had a nervous breakdown. The three Klíma children were cared for by their aunt for two and a half years. Jana’s mother was not able to continue teaching. She worked as a forest worker. The family lost all its property. Her father was released by amnesty in May 1960 and then worked as a road worker. Jana attended an agricultural school and found employment at Centroprojekt Zlín. She later married and started a family. Both her older brothers emigrated, one in 1967 and the other in 1968. After 1989 the family was given back part of their property in restitution. Jana Grebíková lives in Květná, not far from Strání.
