Naděžda Mihalovičová

* 1928  †︎ 2023

  • „V době těch vyhlídek do budoucnosti, jak byly přeskládané, jsem si myslela, že politika komunistické strany správná není. Že ty ideály, ve které jsme doufali a věřili ze začátku, že vzaly za své a pak se to zvrhlo v procesy a záležitosti, se kterými žádný člověk, který to myslel s vlastí poctivě, nemohl souhlasit. Bylo jasné, že to byla direktiva z Moskvy, že se tady slepě poslouchalo. To se nám nelíbilo. Ale ta doba tenkrát na revoluci zralá nebyla. To byl režim tvrdý - ‚buď a nebo.‘ Řada lidí nebyla přesvědčená o tom, že to byla správná cesta ani později, po té, kdy se to vyhrotilo. Ale aby si zachovali rodiny a existenčně neskončili v dolech, tak plnili slepě úkoly a žili, jak se vyžadovalo, asi s tajnou vírou, že jednou se to všechno změní.“

  • „Zuzka porodila Kačenku a pracovala, protože jsme na tom nebyli finančně dobře. Zuzana jako pracovní sestra pracovala v nemocnici a já jsem Kačenku hlídala, ona mi říkala ‚mami‘. Já jsem ji strašně milovala a ona mě taky, takže jsme byly na sobě závislé. Když dcera podruhé utekla, byla jsem strašně nešťastná. Byla jsem na ni zvyklá, protože jsem ji hlídala od rána do večera. Tak když jsem přišla na ten pohovor, na tu policii, tak mi ten jeden nabídl jednak spolupráci a také říkal, že si můžu Kačenku napsat do pasu a pak si ji přivézt zpátky domů. Tak to jsem odmítla. Jednak tu spolupráci a také tu Kačenku s tím, že ji mám strašně ráda, ale nejsem matka - matku má svoji a nemůžu odtrhnout dceru od matky. Pak když jsem chodila do té Bartlomějské, tak tam byly taky takové nabídky. Ovšem tuto cestu bych nikdy nezvolila, i kdyby mi to třeba ulehčilo život. Ale ne, ne.“

  • „Pamatuji, když jsem pracovala v Lidových novinách, tak že Pavel Kohout se při nějaké situaci rozčílil a praštil stranickou legitimací a odešel. A druhý den, po kolenou, opravdu po kolenou, si šel pro tu legitimaci zpátky. To se asi neví o Pavlu Kohoutovi, ale já to viděla na vlastní oči a říkám to tady poprvé. Nikdy jsem s tím nešla ven ani v knížkách, protože jsem si říkala - koneckonců… „A vy jste u toho byla?“ - „Byla. Samozřejmě. Já jsem to viděla. Nebo Vlasta Chramostová... Pavel Kohout napsal divadelní hru, ‚Dobrá píseň‘ se to, myslím, jmenovalo. Vlasta tam měla hlavní roli, vystupovala tam jako velice uvědomělá komunistka. Pamatuji, že jsem byla na premiéře a ve hře se říká: ‚Zradíš-li muže, zradíš socialistickou vlast.‘ Tak jsem si říkala, že z těch největších a nejsilnějších komunistů se potom stali největší a nejsilnější protikomunisté.“

  • „Tenkrát mi to bylo úplně jasné. Bylo mi 17 let a byla jsem takového založení, že jsem si myslela, že by se všichni lidé měli mít dobře. Tak se to tehdy i předkládalo. Tak jsem byla všemi deseti pro, aby se všichni lidé měli dobře. Aby se nedělaly rozdíly, kdy jeden měl bůh ví kolik milionů a druhý živořil. Zažila jsem i první republiku, kdy vím, že bylo těžko, v těch 30. letech. Tatínek měl hypotéku a byly to těžké doby. Takže to bylo úplně idealistické, i když se říkalo materialistické učení. Byl to ideál. Spousta lidí v to tenkrát věřila, a nebyla jsem sama, vždyť to tenkrát prokázaly volby - asi 80 lidí hlasovalo pro tuto politiku.“

  • “I remember, if I may, one such incident, which would illustrate it. This one young boy came there and tried, really tried, and wrote - at the time the editor-in-chief sent him to ČKD to make a report about a miner who had fulfilled the quota to a hundred and ten per cent or something. He did the interview, then he wrote it, and the text began that he was approached by a young man full of energy, he put in the important information, that he had fulfilled the quota to a hundred and ten per cent, and that before he began talking, he ran a hand through his thick brown curly hair. So the story was published, and the next day this bald-headed man charged up, furious, and said: ‘Show me the person who did this to me! What use is it that a fulfil the quota to a hundred and ten per cent, when today everyone keeps telling me: Look, you’re doing great, Tony, but comb that lovely curly brown hair of yours!’”

  • “That was, I think, the most beautiful newspaper I ever got to know, where I had the opportunity - of which I am very grateful - to start working. Because they had a motto there, promoted by Eduard Bass, the old editor-in-chief of Lidové noviny, who said that every genre in Lidové noviny has to be done with literary style, so even news pieces were processed in a literary manner. The quality of language, style, was given high priority, it was very demanding. I was taken in as an intern, as I said. That meant a two-year waiting period, during which you would see whether the person has talent for doing newspapers, if he is capable of doing newspapers, and then he would either be accepted, or Lidové noviny would bid him farewell. As I said, Jan Drda was the chief, his deputy back then was Jaroslav Putík, who was a very well-known Czech journalist - he was nicknamed the Czech Erenburg. After 1968 he had to quit his job for refusing to agree [with the invasion of Soviet forces - ed.]. His wife was Věra Stiborová, who also worked at Lidové noviny. They met there and later married. She was also a very talented and promising journalist and writer as well, later. I think there were several biographies of her in TV and in the newspapers. So I worked there and learnt the journalistic trade until Lidové noviny was closed down in 1950, when Literární noviny was established. Only a very limited number of journalists could be employed there, and the rest looked for jobs at other media outlets.”

  • Full recordings
  • 1

    Praha, byt pamětnice, 14.04.2016

    (audio)
    duration: 01:26:54
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
  • 2

    Praha, 06.12.2018

    (audio)
    duration: 01:23:08
    media recorded in project The Stories of Our Neigbours
  • 3

    Praha, 10.12.2018

    (audio)
    duration: 01:10:33
    media recorded in project The Stories of Our Neigbours
  • 4

    Praha ED, 04.06.2020

    (audio)
    duration: 01:48:22
    media recorded in project Stories of the 20th Century TV
  • 5

    Praha ED, 15.06.2020

    (audio)
    duration: 01:23:39
    media recorded in project Stories of the 20th Century TV
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I was incredibly fortunate - I could do the job of my dreams

Portrait
Portrait
photo: Archív pamětnice

Naďa Mihalovičová, née Korychová, was born on 24 April 1928 in Prague-Smíchov to the family of mechanic Josef Korych. Her mother died in 1932 and left two half-orphans behind - the witness and her younger brother. Their father married again, but he also died prematurely - in 1941. After some time Naďa Mihalovičová’s guardian sent her to a monastery. She attended Drtina Girls’ Grammar School, and after graduating from there in 1946 she studied journalism at the University of Political and Social Sciences. However, in 1948 she met Jan Drda, who persuaded her to start working at Lidové noviny (a nationwide daily newspaper famous from the inter-war period of Czechoslovakia - trans.). She began as an intern for two years, then she was given a full-time contract. When Lidové noviny was dissolved in 1952, she succeeded in finding a place at another daily, Práce (Work). Her job survived the events of 1968 and the subsequent normalisation because she was on maternity leave at the time. Trouble came in 1978, when three of her five children emigrated. Her “normalisational” editor-in-chief bullied her in all kinds of ways. As soon as Naďa Mihalovičová reached pension age, which was in 1981 thanks to the number of children she had (pension age was reduced for women for every child they bore - trans.), her boss ended her work contract and made sure that none of the magazine that she had written for would take any of her articles. The witness underwent retraining and took up a job as tour guide at Čedok. She returned to journalism after November 1989. In the mid-1990s she succeeded in something that numerous European journalists had failed at before: during a trip to the USA she was admitted by Donald Trump, whom she interviewed. Since 2001 she served as the chairlady of the Club of Journalist Seniors in the Journalists Syndicate of the Czech Republic, as part of the Council of Seniors of the Czech Republic; she wrote articles for website for elderly people, senivia.cz, and has published a number of books. Naďa Mihalovičová died on May 20th, 2023.