Czech it out: yesterday, today and tomorrow
By Rynn Song
Kutna Hora, near Prague - Jan 10 - IJS-Global - The cold, spreading out as a white fog, had deterred all but a handful of tourists. The old town of Kutna Hora appeared to be hibernating.
But with the streets almost empty of the visitors who flood in during the summer, those who braved the chill of the off-season got the opportunity to speak at length with some of the inhabitants of this ancient city and hear of the monumental changes they have experienced in their lifetimes.
Jaromira and her dog
Jaromira was one. At 66 years of age, she has lived through the remnants of the East German influence following World War II, Communism following the Soviet invasion of 1968 and now free-market capitalism as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
One of Kutna Horo’s few English-speaking guides, she is in high demand during the summer season. But on this freezing winter day there is little scope for her services so she is able to relax indoors in the warmth with her dog, drink tea and tell her story.
Jaromira, who became a guide upon retiring seven years earlier, is unusual among the more mature guides in that she speaks English.
Many youngsters cannot speak it as well. It is very rare for someone in her 60s to have such a command of the language, even if she has to refer to a dictionary on occasions.
Jaromira ascribed the low level of English among her generation to the German and Russian influence that dominated the country following World War II.
“People in Czechoslovakia did not pay attention to study English. They learned German when the German army took control of the country (in 1938) and following the Soviet invasion (of 1968), they learned Russian.”
Searching a dictionary
Jaromira was unusual in that she studied some English at school. She is determined to improve her fluency in the language.
“I’m practising my English with my friends in England, that’s why I can keep speaking,” Jaromira said, “I also travelled to England to see them, that’s very helpful to improve my English.”
Memories of the Soviet invasion still ache, Jaromina said.
Troops from the Soviet Union and their Warsaw Pact allies, Poland, Bulgaria and Hungary, invaded the then Czechoslovakia on the night of August 20-21, 1968, to reverse liberal economic and political reforms lead by the new Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, Alexander Dubcek.
In the run-up to the invasion Jaromira was abroad. “At that time, my husband and I were in Bulgaria, people in Bulgaria told us that our country will have a very bad time,” she recalled. “They told us to stay there or stay in Yugoslavia, but we decided to go back.”
But as Jaramira recalls: “I had problems on our way, on the bumpy motorcycle, I got bloodied,” she said, “so I took a train in Slovakia to go back to Kutna Hora and my husband went back by motorcycle.”
“When I arrived at the station, people there told me that Dubcek and (the chairman of the National Assembly) Josef Smrkovsky were having negotiations here with Russians,” she said, “then I arrived in Kutna Hora and went to hospital. I could hear the tanks and cars outside.”
Everything changed while she lay in her hospital bed. “After a week when I left the hospital, I walked around and heard people died, it was horrible, really horrible.”
There were soldiers everywhere. Communist party policy and doctrine was enforced.
“I have to say, I don’t like communism,” she commented. “They are too strict, they declared everything to be theirs, even houses built by the citizen themselves.”
But she said there were some advantages. “Some things weren’t bad, I must say. Some organization gave us some money, and every year my husband and I able with our three sons to have a one week holiday (thanks to) a special grant.”
Summing up: “In communist times, I can’t go aboard because of the shut up of the country, and in capitalism, I can go abroad but have no money.”
Today, she longer pays attention to whether communism or capitalism is best. She focuses on the future.
“I’m practising my English with my grandson, and plan to guide more people in the following high tourist season. I love my job, and I love my life, so much,” Jaromira said.
For her, yesterday is history, today has been determined, but tomorrow is still in her own hands.
“I’d like to be a tour guide as long as I can, it gives me energy.”
