You are a modern woman and you go to church?
Download image
Eva Kocmanová was born on March 21, 1938 in Boskovice as the second daughter of Františka and Josef Kalandra. Her parents ran a private stationery and bookstore connected with bookbinding services. At the end of the war, she saw the escape of German soldiers and spent her last night before liberation in the cellar of the family home. Her parents witnessed the air raid on Boskovice, in which ten inhabitants died. After the war, the whole family was active in the Christian physical education organization Orel. In 1953, her parents lost their shop and she herself did not get into high school because of her bad cadre profile. She apprenticed at the Metra Blansko company as an electrician and graduated from the industrial school while working. From 1960 until her retirement in 1995, she worked at the new telephone exchange in Boskovice. There she met her future husband Karel Kocman (1923-1998). They got married in 1970 and had two children, an older son Karel (1971-2004) and a younger daughter Eva (1973). In August 1969, she organized a trip to Prague where they witnessed the manoeuvres of the police, army and militia during the anniversary of the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops. She joined the Czechoslovak People’s Party (ČSL). In the 1980s, her children attended religious classes and participated in secret camps (“chaloupky”) organized by the Salesians. Because of this, she faced harassment from the regime. After the revolution in 1989, she participated in the restoration of the Orel organization in Boskovice and joined the Czechoslovak People’s Party. She worked as a volunteer nurse and Red Cross instructor. She sang in the cathedral choir, in the Janáček ensemble, at funerals, weddings and at the welcoming of little citizens. Her faith has always been her greatest support. She retired in 1995. In 2023 she lived with her daughter in the family home in Boskovice.
