Marie Ohlídalová

* 1941

  • “Word got around that when they were leaving, they ripped out sinks and electricity. They simply damaged everything. They took many of the things they had, for example, rubbish behind the barracks to the forest. It was not nice to go there after it. However, we were glad that they were going to go away. Some of them took the train and it was suddenly quiet in Červená Voda - the huge vehicles did not drive in the village anymore. When they had training, they ordered a traffic police officer to be at the crossroad. He was there till late, when we were returning from work, he was still there, so we gave him a snack because he said that he was hungry.”

  • “When it started in November, we listened to the radio. They did not say much there but we could listen to Radio Free Europe. Well, I came to the factory and was wearing a tricolour on the lapel. My boss asked me what it was supposed to mean and (said) that he did not want to see anything like that. I had to take it off and I put my coat in the locker. It happened a few days later. However, we still read on the notice board that it was not true. That Havel wanted back to Barrandov and that it was the reason he was doing it.”

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    Červená Voda, 05.10.2021

    (audio)
    duration: 02:22:29
    media recorded in project Příběhy regionu - HRK REG ED
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When the Soviets left, it was once again quiet in Červená Voda

Marie Ohlídalová. A photo that she sent to her future husband in the army
Marie Ohlídalová. A photo that she sent to her future husband in the army
photo: witness´s archive

Marie Ohlídalová was born on 9 December 1941 in the settlement of Žalý in the Giant Mountains. After the end of the war, she and her parents moved to Vrchlabí where there were many abandoned houses left by German citizens. Her school years were affected by World War II and Marie was supposed to start working when she was only thirteen and half years old. At last, she had to wait several months, and then she started to work at Tesla company in Vrchlabí. She soon met her future husband Miloslav and when she was twenty-one, she moved to Červená Voda in the Eagle Mountains with him and they still live there. It was in the village which lies at the Bohemian-Moravian border where Marie experienced a huge shock - the arrival of the Soviet army which stayed in Červená Voda for more than twenty years. She started to commute to Letohrad in the 1970s where she studied at evening school for five years. She and her husband raised three daughters. The departure of the occupants from the village in 1991 meant for Marie a joyful and fundamental life experience although plundering the barracks was part of it.