There was no one I could tell
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Danuška Jírová, née Procházková, was born on April 21st 1922 in Mšeno near the town of Mělník. She grew up in an intellectual, patriotic and harmonious family. Her father, František Procházka, was a local school director and a Sokol Organisation functionary. He also founded a male choir, Vyšehrad, and had become its musical director. During the WWI he had joined the resistance movement striving to establish the independent Czechoslovak state and as a Sokol member he participated on the anti-Nazi resistance during the Protectorate. On October 8th 1941 he had been arrested with many other Sokol Organisation representatives. He had been interrogated in Mladá Boleslav, after that he was transferred to the Gestapo prison in Theresienstadt Small Fortress and later to Auschwitz concentration camp where he died in January of the following year due to conditions of him imprisonment. Danuška Jírová was an ardent Sokol Organisation member like her father and after completing her studies she followed in his footsteps once again, becoming a teacher. After the war, she married Josef Jíra, who inherited an estate near Mšeno with his older brother. During the so-called collectivisation, their property had been taken away from them, they were labeled kulaks and had to bear all the consequences this derogatory term brought with it. Josef Jíra couldn’t stand the pressure and after being constantly threatened by imprisonment he committed suicide. His older brother died crushed by his own horses driven by the administrator appointed to his estate by the state. With two small children, Danuška Jírová left her hometown and moved to Ústí nad Labem so she and her children could escape harassment and find a better future somewhere no one knew them. Apart from teaching, she had been also involved in physical education, being a Sokol group leader and attending Spartakiads during the socialist regime. She played the violin and the piano and she was also singing. She also wrote poetry for which she won the Ústí nad Labem county representative’s prize. She has been living in Ústí nad Labem, surrounded by her family, still active and pursuing variety of hobbies, enjoying her life to the full. As her stubborn nature and positive outlook helped her to overcome all the pain she encountered.
