PhDr. Pavel Vlastimil Jeník

* 1935

  • “It was a strange time, because when the German citizens who had been living in the Protectorate were now retreating, it was necessary to provide some housing for them. They were therefore accommodated in schools, and we, students, were then going to pubs instead of to school. I thus got to know all these places: the U Fleků pub, we were going there, and the Varous pub, and Zpěváček pub, and we also frequented the Zlatá Hospůdka pub, it was right next to us.”

  • “It was there that I was learning for the first time from my parents, aunts and relatives what was happening. That there was war and that this was not a normal state of affairs. Airplanes were flying over us, airplanes from Italian bases which were heading to Germany and flying over Austria. And then there was 14th of February, and we spent that day there in Ouběnice, too. We were listening to the radio and we thus knew what was happening in Prague. My parents were actually here in Prague during that time.”

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    Praha 6, 02.12.2015

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    media recorded in project The Stories of Our Neigbours
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That was our world, unique and free

Pavel Vlastimil Jeník (2015)
Pavel Vlastimil Jeník (2015)

Pavel Vlastimil Jeník was born June 29, 1935. He spent the Second World War at first in Prague and later with his relatives in Ouběnice in the countryside. After the end of the war he and his friends were passionately going to see American films in the cinema, listening to western music and Pavel also joined the Boy Scouts. All this had to come to an end with the rise of communists to power in 1948. His father was forced to close down his bakery and the authorities confiscated the farm in Ouběnice from Pavel’s uncle. Pavel was allowed to complete his studies only because his parents have divorced. He worked as a teacher and as a radio editor of programs for young people. He is now retired and he still enjoys skiing.