Josef Pelnař

* 1973

Romania, Czechs from Banat, National minorities, Svědci lokálních událostí z éry komunismu
1989 - The fall of the iron curtain, 16. 12. 1989 - 24-25. 12. 1989 - The Romanian revolution
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    The waltz that the old grandfathers used to sing at Bígr

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    duration: 02:14
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    "I'll give the waltz that was sung at Bígr. It's not directly a Bígr waltz, but it was brought here during communism. I heard my grandfathers singing it, so I remembered it that way. I'd like to try to play that one: "The little brook of Hovoran is quietly flowing down, the little brook of Hovoran is quietly flowing down. Why, my dear mother, why do I have so many aches, why do I have so many aches? Why my dear mother, why do I have so many aches, why do I have so many aches? Forget, forget - it's easy to say. Forget, forget - it's easy to say. But my little heart won't forget, won't forget. But my little heart won't forget, won't forget."

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    The gradual depopulation of Bígr was not something I could have imagined

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    duration: 02:00
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    "No, I had no idea, or I didn't want to admit it [the gradual depopulation of the village], I don't know. At that time it started to develop, maybe in those other Czech villages, and then families started to go elsewhere. I also thought that I would save the place and never leave Bígr, but unfortunately, that's how it had to be. Once the children came and the school was needed, it had to happen. At that time, the '90s, I don't think there was a shortage of anything. On the contrary, people had everything. Those who had some income could afford to buy everything. Of course, they started buying televisions as soon as they could. Televisions, refrigerators, washing machines. But then households started to have fewer cows, fewer cars, more tractors. And that's how it started to gradually disappear."

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    We were excited about the collapse of the regime, but we didn't dare to do anything

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    duration: 01:44
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    "In December [1989], I don't remember exactly, but it was the fall [of the communist regime in Romania], when it started in Temesvár and then in Bucharest, and we were right here in Bígr watching it on TV. We knew something was happening. We were still excited, but we didn't show anything, we didn't know who was coming to the village. We knew what was going on, that Ceausescu... probably already the regime was going to fall. Our parents warned us because they might come, they might arrest us. And then, when the fall was over, we went to Rešice, where we saw buildings being shot around by the police, walls, windows broken. Our fathers came with us, they were scared too. They left us in the dormitory. They went to see us off, they didn't know what was going to happen in Rešice either."

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    Bígr, 19.09.2023

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    duration: 01:54:20
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He couldn’t imagine leaving Bígr, but the closure of the mines decided

Josef Pelnař v roce 2023
Josef Pelnař v roce 2023
photo: Paměť národa
photo: Paměť národa
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Josef Pelnař was born on 15 November 1973 in a peasant family in the Czech village of Bígr in Romania. His father worked in the mines during the week and his mother looked after the upbringing of the children and took care of the farm, where Josef Pelnař and his younger brother had to help out. He completed four grades of school in Bígr, from the fifth to the eighth grade he continued at the Romanian school in Berzasca and later in the industrial town of Reșița. In the latter, he also experienced the social changes associated with the fall of the communist regime in Romania. From 1990 he learned the carpentry trade in the Cozla coal mine, where he later started working as a miner for financial reasons. After the closure of the Cozla mines, he went to work in the mines of Ujbányi (Eibentál), but after a tragic accident in 2006, mining in those mines was also stopped. In the summer of 2008, together with his wife and children, they moved permanently to the Czech Republic, where they still live. He keeps coming to Bígr to visit his parents.

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Josef Pelnař: Vzali jsme děti, nasedli do auta a jeli do Čech

  • date:
    01.01.1970
  • medium type:
    Broadcasting
  • medium name:
    Český Radio

Harmonikář Josef Pelnař

  • date:
    01.01.1970
  • medium type:
    Internet
  • medium name:
    Youtube.com
  • author:
    Adam Mlezyva