Ing. Eva Pacovská

* 1935

  • "I worked at home, I worked on a computer and I made an exemption from agricultural land, because when some farm buildings were built, or later family houses, the levy for the occupation of agricultural land was calculated from this. I also later worked on the construction of the E11 highway, where I took land from the district of Nymburk and the district of Kutná Hora to Hradec, to Smiřice, so I did all the calculation of land take. "

  • "I went in for inspections for two days. I was already on maternity leave at the time. So they always called me in. Everyone called me Mrs. Pacovská, they no longer called me comrade. I went to the interrogation and there sat my colleagues, who had previously knocked on my shoulder and were friendly with me, and now suddenly they sat opposite me as an inspection commission. So I told them. When I was in Prague and saw the shot-up National Museum, I can't be for the entry of troops. The next day I had to go to an inspection again, for them check if I hadn’t changed my mind. And I just repeated that when I saw the museum and saw what was happening on Wenceslas Square and at Czechoslovak Radio, I can't agree with the entry of troops. And when we were driving around with the production administration and we saw the troops here everywhere in Stěžery and everywhere when we drove from the agricultural cooperatives and we saw all the troops that were here, so I said I couldn't agree with that and I had to leave . "

  • "I joined the agricultural administration. In 1968 I went to buy black cloth for a banner, so I was fired. I was the only woman fired from the agricultural administration. ‘You bought a black banner during the occupation? And did you manage to hang it somewhere?’ No. I went with my friend to buy a black cloth. The friend stayed there. And the man who hoisted the banner also stayed there, and it was up to me to go buy a black banner, so I had to leave the agricultural administration. After I left, I couldn't find a job, so I went to tell the former director that I had found a job selling underwear, and he said - no, you can’t - and he gave me three tips on where to ask for a job, and so I called there and got to the agricultural building association, later Agrostav. "

  • "We had food stamps and my father went to Pertoltice every weekend or every fortnight, it was difficult. He would always bring us a big loaf of bread from Grandma. I know that we were waiting for him at Vršovice railway station and he always threw it over to us, because there were German controls and they were taking some supplies. So, Mom and I always waited for Dad to throw the loaf of bread over the fence. My father was principled. When he was at the Ministry of Agriculture and someone would bring him something, like some gift ..., for example, I remember that a farmer came to us and brought us a goose. My mother and I were happy, but my father did not accept and had to take it back. My father was principled. He never took anything from anyone. "

  • "My strongest experience from the war was February 14, 1945 - a raid on Prague. Because we lived in Vršovice, there was a hit in Botič and we went to see it. The house next to us was bombed right down to the basement. I know that after that raid we went to look at it with my mom. It was a beautiful February day, there were still remnants of snow and we waited until the afternoon, when Dad, from Tišnov - from the Ministry of Agriculture - came to see us, because he did not know what had happened to us. And so we met happily again. 'So the raid was in the morning?' The raid was at noon. I know we were at home, the siren started sounding and they sounded for us to go to the cellar, we lived on the third floor and my mom took off my shoes and we went, and the glass started shattering before we reached the cellar. It was around noon or right at noon. "

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    Hradec Králové, 21.05.2019

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    duration: 55:00
    media recorded in project Příběhy regionu - HRK REG ED
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Eva Pacovská, Praha, cca 1949, historical photography
Eva Pacovská, Praha, cca 1949, historical photography
photo: archiv Evy Pacovské

Eva Pacovská was born on December 21, 1935 in Prague and spent her childhood and adolescence there. She went to school in Prague-Vršovice and was a member of Sokol and the Scouts. She also spent a large part of her childhood on a family farm in Pertoltice, which fostered her relationship with agriculture. Her father, JUDr. Jan Škramovský, worked as an official of the Ministry of Agriculture. Due to the Feierabend affair, he was interrogated by the Gestapo during the war, and after 1948 he was also persecuted by the Communists. The witness experienced an air raid on Prague as a child on February 14, 1945, during which a neighboring house was bombed. Until the end of the war, they lived with relatives in Řevnice, where they experienced another raid on the train station and at the beginning of May 1945 the arrival of General Vlasov’s armies. After February 1948, the Communists expropriated the family’s farm in Pertoltice. After graduating from the University of Agriculture, she worked in agriculture all her life, either as a zootechnician, an official at the regional agricultural administration or as a business planner. After the August occupation in 1968, she flew a demonstrative black banner and was fired for her anti-occupation stances. In the following years she could not travel abroad. After 1989, the farm in Pertoltice was returned to the family, and she herself took part in the handing over of agricultural land to the original owners from her working position.