If only the next generations finally lived in peace!
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Vlastimil Nedoma was born on the 16th of April 1927 in Chudobín in the area of Litovel. He studied at elementary school in his native village where his own father Tomáš Nedoma also taught him. He was studying at grammar school in Litovel during the time of German occupation of the rest of the Czech territory in 1939. They listened to forbidden London radio broadcast at home during the war, he also remembers the atmosphere of fear during the reprisal of Heydrich´s death (so called ’heydrichiáda’) and air raids of Soviet fighter planes in May 1945. He started to study at forestry school in Hranice in September 1945. Having successfully passed his secondary school leaving exam in 1949, Vlastimil Nedoma got an opportunity to take a one-year planning course. The condition was to join the Czechoslovak Communist Party and at the end he - in spite of his inner conflict - agreed to do it. He met his future wife Eva Novotná during his following work for the Ministry of Forestry and Water Management in Prague. They moved back to Chudobín after the wedding in 1955 and Vlastimil Nedoma accepted a job position in Forest Enterprises in Litovel where he worked until his retirement in 1987. He took part in Congress of the Workers’ Union of Wood Industry, Forestry and Water Management in Prague where he publicly protested against the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops. He then left the Communist Party in reaction to removal of Alexandr Dubček in Spring 1969. He took part in demonstrations in Litovel in November 1989. The whole witness´s life has been inseparably connected with music. He has been playing the violin since he was five, he started a singing choir Kantika Livovel in 1968 and he was its leader for the following 35 years. In Litovel, he also co-founded Kruh přátel hudby (Group of music friends), choir Koledníci (Carollers) and he also taught to play instruments. Both his children are professional musicians, daughter Eva Nedomová (* 1958) performs in Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, son Jan Nedoma (* 1956) performs in Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra in Zlín. Vlastimil Nedoma was living in native Chudobín during the time of the interview shooting (2020).
