They didn’t want to join the Agricultural Cooperative, the communists imprisoned the father, and expelled the daughter from school
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Marie Janatová, née Blažková, was born on 15 January 1941 in Nová Ves nad Popelkou. Her parents, František and Marie, had bought a farm there four years earlier. The farm was doing well, but the family lost a considerable part of their savings due to the communist monetary reform in 1953. Her parents refused to join the coop during the so-called collectivisation. As a result, her father was imprisoned by the communist regime on the pretext of publicly criticising the Soviet suppression of protests in Hungary. Consequently, the witness was expelled from a high school and had to work on the family farm. Her brother had to serve in the army as a member of the auxiliary technical battalions. For over two years, in the absence of her father, she and her mother had to take care of their family farm. After he came back from prison, the family moved to Kruh near Jilemnice, and after some time, they joined the local agricultural cooperative. There, the witness worked as a cashier, and she also met her future husband, Jan Janata, who also came from a peasant family persecuted by the communists. After the Velvet Revolution, Mr. and Mrs. Janata regained both of their family farms and decided to combine them and farm with their son. In 2022, Marie Janatová had been living in Kruh u Jilemnice.
