PhDr. Jana Kučerová

* 1940

  • "When Vokrouhlický was kicked out, young Jakeš came there. And the one like that started putting everything together. And I said: 'Yeah, but don't count on me, like.' And there I said: 'My father wouldn't want that for sure.' Done. Well, they kicked me out, of course they did.'"

  • "He was returning from Prague and someone called him: 'Look, disappear. They know that you are here, it is dangerous.' And dad pulled himself together and drove to Pelhřimov. He just ran here, well, what's it called... Through Sezimovo Ústí, right, and there in the forest. And my mother sent for him to have some food with him, she sent a girl from Pavlov, who learned to cook with us, etc. Well, she got off the train there in Planý, I think. And dad came out, it was evening, right, from behind the tree and took it from her. 'I didn't see you, you don't know anything, nothing.' And he went to Pelhřimov, where his friend, Piťha, was like the headmaster, so they operated on him. They arrived the next day, he was still lying down resting. I will still have a picture of him lying in the hospital bed. And for who knows how long. And they came for him again in the evening and took him to Tábor."

  • "'Dear Ema, perhaps this is the last message I write. Say hello to both children from me in memory of dad who always loved you. May they be worthy and bring joy to their name. And even if I end, I will live on in you. Kissing you all, Sašinka, Janina and you, dad.' That's the last thing he gave them. A piece of paper like this simply torn out of something.'"

  • Full recordings
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    V Táboře, 14.04.2022

    (audio)
    duration: 03:25:15
    media recorded in project The Stories of Our Neigbours
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My father´s behaviour was always my compass

Jana Kučerová in 2022
Jana Kučerová in 2022
photo: Příběhy našich sousedů

Jana Kučerová was born on June 28, 1940 in Tábor as the second daughter of Ladislav and Emílie Poláček. The mother was a housewife, the father worked as the secretary of the regional committee of the National Partnership. During the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, he actively participated in resistance activities, for which he was executed on June 29, 1942 at the Tábor gallows. After the war, she moved with her mother and sister to Prague, where she graduated from a higher economic school and later, while working, at the Faculty of Arts at the Charles University. She worked at the International Student Union, at the EXPO world exhibition in Japan, at the Intercontinental Hotel and at the Prague Castle Administration. She never joined the Communist Party. She had a son and a daughter with her husband Milan Kučera. She was widowed a few years ago. He still travels a lot and has a rich social life. She regularly goes to Tábor to remember the fate of her family.