Ladislav Žížala

* 1929

  • “They would come to check if the potatoes that had been reported, the harvest... so they simply measured the cellar, measured the height of the potatoes and estimated how many quintals [hundred-kilos - trans.] it was. And then they came to check if the amount dwindled at a rate appropriate to the cattle we fed them to. But that was done by Czechs, not by Germans... so we knew when another inspection was to be made.”

  • “We had what was called supervised breeding of cattle... supervised breeding of pigs... supervised breeding of hens... which was good money... because an assistant of the company would visit us every month, that was back in the First Republic... and every cow had a birth certificate... it had a chart in the shed, with its name on it, where its milk yield was recorded; fat content was checked, and calves were chosen based on the results of the breeding cow, and those were sold at auctions... it was awfully advantageous.”

  • “We made our own cream and butter at home because we had a separator... well, and it was sealed during the war... there was a piece of wire stopped up with a seal, leading from the handle to the base, and you weren’t allowed to separate milk at home... but look now, it wasn’t any problem to get the wire loose.”

  • “[A portion of] everything had to be handed in. When you slaughtered a pig at home, you were required to hand in meat, lard, etc. You had to make deliveries of eggs. And the Germans kept... they were so orderly... they had these huge sheets. My dad was deputy mayor during the war... and because I was at grammar school until 39, I did the papers for Dad. You wrote everything there. How many pigs were born, how many heifers there were, how many cows, how many animals had died, with documents to prove the deaths... the Germans monitored that very closely. But even so, despite all that... there was need for meat... people would always breed a cow or heifer extra, and then you’d go to the butcher in Bystřice... over the hills from Skalice to Bystřice... and he’d process it for the black market.”

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    Týnec nad Sázavou, 02.05.2017

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    duration: 01:25:42
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
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I think back fondly on every period of my life

1948 - graduation photo
1948 - graduation photo
photo: archív L. Žížaly

Ladislav Žížala was born on 4 November 1929 in Skalice near Benešov. His parents owned a farm and the surrounding fields. His father died when he was two years old. His mother married again soon after, because the farm could not function without a farmer. Ladislav remembers the last years of the First Republic and the farming cooperatives that were organised by the farmers themselves. He attended grammar school in Benešov during World War II, which he also has many memories of. After the war he trained as a glazier and worked in the craft for four years. Then he and his wife moved to better living conditions in Týnec nad Sázavou, where he found employment at Jawa. He soon worked himself up to a higher position. In the years 1983-1985 he served as Delegate of the Ministry of Foreign Trade to Moscow, in Chertanovo (a district of Moscow). He has always enjoyed painting. As of 2017, he lives in Týnec nad Sázavou, where he is acknowledged as a respected historian.