My father was executed by the Nazis, but I never felt bitterness towards the German nation
Download image
Emanuel Jankovský was born on July 22, 1927 in Kouřim in Central Bohemia as the only son of Vladimír and Karolína Jankovský. Both parents came from Prague and met in the Smíchov cycling club. The father built bicycles to order in his workshop, in 1937 the Jankov family set up a bicycle and sewing machine shop in Úvaly near Prague, where they also moved. In June 1942, the father was arrested at home by two gendarmes and taken by train to be interrogated by the Cologne Gestapo. He never returned home, the family only received a death certificate with the date of execution on July 3, 1942, the last day of martial law. It was never made clear what he was accused of and what he was executed for. Emanuel learned business skills from his mother, and after the war they started doing well in business again. However, after the communist coup in 1948, they were forced to close the shop and in 1949 Emanuel enlisted in the war. Emanuel, who had been learning to play the heligonka since childhood, received an offer to join the Army Art Ensemble (AUS), where he remained even after it was professionalized until his retirement in 1988. In 1952, he married the women’s tailor Libuše Široka and they started a family. After November 1989, he was a freelance musician and also partly returned to the shop of his son, who founded the company Propec in Úvaly, which sells supplies for ceramics.
