“There were women, but we had no money to pay them so it was totally terrible. Before, they had been doing things like: They [in the agricultural co-op] had not prepared anything for winter so we kept cows, like, normally, we had feed for them even in winter and they had nothing to feed their cows with so they brought them to our stalls. There was some space so they placed ten cows there. And we did not have feed enough and then they would tell us off for not having fed the cows. There’s the letters, have you seen them? That was awful. Those were people who even couldn’t… those were women without morals and men without morals. The only thing they could… There was one among them who could read and he was the local political advisor for employment. He would write every day… My brother, he would always apply for a job, they would always send it from the Prague [to get a referral from his hometown] co-op and he would get fired the next day. He had no money, our parents had no money. The only income, it was nine hundred crowns, was from my factory job. It was not good. Was awful.”
“Yeah, and my brother graduated from the secondary school, when was that? He got the worst fallout from all of us because I just shook it off and went to Prague to work at the press and I even started the local Czechoslovak Youth Union. The irony. My brother, though, he went to Prague because after he had graduated… It happened this way: They did not want to let him graduate at the agricultural schoolo. But he was not the only one like that and they were smart. So, they all joined the Czechoslovak Youth Union and the authorities couldn’t do anything to them. Smart guys they were, smart guys. And they wanted to have him kicked out. They sent letters to the school that they kick him out because he was a son of a kulak and as such, he couldn’t run a farm. But he was a Jack of all trades, since our childhood, we had been used to all sorts of tools and equipment and everything. We were raised to work, not to loiter around… My brother, when he arrived to Prague, they took all our parents’ money away, they took away their bank account, they did not let them use their bank account. My grandfather founded a savings bank in Kolín, which didn’t matter. We had an account there and then we did not have it any more because what could we need money for? We could just as well do it ourselves.”
“We were always in some sort of pickle. Our dad knew just fine which field needs what, he knew exactly what to plant there. But, someone always came, that was awful. They always made one look like a total moron. And when they dragged him away to Kolín, there were all sorts of farmers and smallholders from the whole district here, gathered on the main square. And they had to crawl on all four, some arsehole was bossing them around, that they had to, idunnowat. I was in the final year of secondary school. We would sometimes meet them when they chased them around Kolín. Dad lost twenty kilos there.”
“Did he ever talk about it?”
“No. They then, I don’t know what you have read. They took all of their money. They didn’t give them anything at all. Dad had a hundred crowns, I mean, they were giving him a hundred per month, and mom had to get a job in the agricultural co-op. She did not really mind it but she was not used to the backbreaking labour. Then she worked at Ohrada. There she cared for pheasants, and such things. And the most important thing was that they would plant someone here, and that person would eavesdrop to hear what we talk about and the like.”
Libuše Šubrtová, née Novotná was born on the 30th of May in 1928 in Prague. Her father, Josef Pavel Novotný, was an enthusiastic member of the Sokol sports club and a diligent smallholder, her mother’s name was Jarmila. In Nová Ves, the family increased their holdings to a large estate, largest in the village, owing to their talent and hard work. Both Libuše and her brother Luděk. had to help around, they were taught all sorts of agricultural work. Apart from this, Libuše participated in the Sokol exercise activities and later, she herself became a trainer, she was a gifted piano player. She attended the Gymnasium (secondary school) in Kolín and in 1947, she graduated from there. During the WWII, her father was elected a village mayor, he allegedly accepted the post unwillingly, only to prevent a possible worse situation in case a German person would get the office. After the war, the People’s Court accused him of aiding the enemy and he struggled in vain to defend himself. After the Communist coup d’état, all his property was confiscated. The family was reduced to poverty, the children could not pursue any higher education. Libuše managed to pass the state exams in English but on the very following day, she had to start her job in the ZPA factory as a press operator. Neither the witness nor her brother were allwoed to pursue any further studies. In the Prague factory, Křižík ZPA, Libuše worked for 34 years, later on, she got a job in the supply and planning department. After she retired, she volunteered as a sacristan and accompanied the services of the evangelical church on the piano. All her life, she kept trying to clean her father’s name. Libuše Šubrtová died on the 10th of January in 2022.
Music class - teachers and pupils. All of them played violin, with the exception of three girls who played piano. Libuše, with plaited hair, at the front. 1937
Music class - teachers and pupils. All of them played violin, with the exception of three girls who played piano. Libuše, with plaited hair, at the front. 1937
![Graduation board of the Kolín Gymnasium [secondary school]. Libuše Šubrtová, top row, second from right. 1947](https://www.memoryofnations.eu/sites/default/files/2021-11/47.jpg)
