I was leaving on a freight train and my mother was crying
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Zlatuše Kosňovská was born on 19 July 1934 in a small village in the Florina district of Greece. Her childhood name was Chrysula Jalama. She grew up in a poor family, which made a living from agriculture. When a civil war broke out in Greece in 1946, her father left to fight for left-wing guerrilla troops. Her mother was often questioned by the police. Near the village, where they lived, there were fights between guerrillas and government troops. During one of the attacks, she and her mother and two sisters fled to Yugoslavia. She was chosen among the children of the Greek guerrillas, who were then assisted by a European socialist country. She got to Czechoslovakia. She grew up in a children’s shelter in Planá near Mariánské Lázně, her sisters were placed in a children’s shelter near Opava. For several years she knew nothing of the fate of her mother and father, and later both of them also came to Czechoslovakia. She studied in the field of electromechanics for railways. Until she received the documents at the vocational school, she had not known exactly when she was born, had no nationality, passport or birth certificate. The official who handled her documents suggested that she change the Greek name Chrysula to the Czech name Zlatuše. Chryso in Greek means gold. She got married and since then she became Zlatuše Kosňovská. She had two children. All her life she worked for Czech Railways in Ostrava. In retirement she became active in the association of the Greek Community of Ostrava, where she takes care of seniors from Greece.
