“I cannot tell you the precise day when my mom and I returned, but it was certainly before 8th May, because the war ended on 8th May and the Russians, who had their camp on that playground, obviously celebrated this quite loudly and happily by shooting in the air from everything they had. The shooting was like thunder. I was a little over three years old at that time and dad took me out from the bed or couch that I was sleeping on and he partly pulled away the blackout curtains and he told me: ‘Ivuška, the war is over.’ And this still arouses emotions in me, although so many years have already passed. That image, when the playground was ablaze with lights, and the shooting - I still have it stored in my memory and nobody can get it away from me, I can still see it, although I was three years old. That was my experience from the war.”
“Of course, other things were meanwhile happening, and it was that unfortunate period of time for all of us young people, but not only for the young people, but for all people who have already experienced war or the danger of war, and that was the occupation of the country on 21st August 1968. My father was on a business trip in Prague, and he was in the National Assembly building next to the National Theatre at which they were shooting. We basically did not know anything about him for one week. Obviously, he tried to use anybody who was heading to Ostrava to send us a message that he was alive but that he did not know what would happen next and that he would keep trying to get home. Mom was naturally completely devastated by that, and to be honest, I and my husband were as well, because we had been enjoying the Prague Spring tremendously. We were over twenty years old, I was twenty-six, and we were enthusiastic. Well, unfortunately… As soon as I had a chance to get to the city centre, I jumped on the first bus and I rushed to my mom, because we knew the situation. Since we lived on the Partisan Square, which is two hundred metres away from the city hall, I – a Russian teacher, and a proud Russian teacher and linguist at that - thought that I simply had to go to the city hall and that I would hopefully be able to talk to them somehow. So I tried and even today, I am still happy that I am here alive, because one very young soldier came there, he looked like he was not even seventeen years old, but in spite of that he was pointing at me with some kalashnikov or some other monstrous weapon. I tried – not in anger, but in a human way - to explain to this boy where they were and who they were, and how they… But he was not happy about me at all and I did not really feel comfortable with his weapon. I was probably lucky, I have survived it, because some higher-ranking officer came there and he took the young soldier with him and he apologized to me and that was it, but to be honest, even now I don’t have a good feeling about it.”
“The television was on and suddenly we could see the horror which was happening in Prague. My husband Zdeněk was in Prague at that time. There were about eight of us sitting there and we were watching it and discussing how this would develop, because there was a strong feeling that it would not end well. We thought that if they already started beating our children, or students… It always started with students and then workers would join them. That was a common pattern, which is given in this country, and always has been. Well, I came home and I was all trembling. My husband arrived from Prague the day after and we went home. He told me what had happened there. I was curious about what he witnessed in Prague. He was in Prague for probably more than one week and he told me that he had been there on that Thursday. Certain Mr. Dočkal, who had a bit higher position, allegedly came there. He came there and he told them: ‘Get ready for the regime to go bust, it will burst any moment.’ That was sometime during the week. Then there was the Friday, Albertov, and the beating of students, and the theatres then got involved immediately. Zdeněk was describing this to me during our entire walk home. This means that those in the top positions probably must have already known something, but none of enquired any further, because for us it was a shock on one hand, and on the other it was a spark of hope that on one beautiful day something would happen. Probably similar to the end of the war. Something must happen, it is not possible…! We came home, we closed the door and we embraced each other and we kissed a free kiss for the first time. Believing that it would hopefully be free.”
Ivana Škarvadová, née Heinischová, was born March 6, 1942 in Ostrava. She graduated from the Pedagogical Institute in Ostrava, majoring in music, Russian language and geography. She is fluent in four languages. For her entire life she carries her memories from the end of the Second World War. She took part in the events on August 21, 1968 at the city hall in Ostrava. In 1975 she met her fateful love - her second husband, brigade general Zdeněk Škarvada, who had been a Czechoslovak pilot in combat during WWII. With her husband, she participated in many cultural events across the entire Moravian-Silesian region as well as in his birthplace in Olešnice. After her husband’s death she lives in a high-rise building which he had constructed, and she continues to represent general Škarvada at events held in various places all over the country.
