We couldn’t go away and leave our parents here, so we had to withstand a lot of hardships, but together, with the help of our family, we managed it.
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Marie Koukalová was born to farmers František and Maria Peckovi on October 13, 1940. She grew up together with her older brother František and many employees of the farm no. 10 in Straky near Nymburk. As a part of the collectivization, family ties were severed and their farm was nationalized. Her parents and Marie were placed with other kulaks on a farm in Obor near Ostrá, and František, who was banned from working in Nymburk district, worked with cows near Kladruby. The situation weakened her father’s health. In 1956, the family moved to Nymburk and Marie studied at a secondary business school in Vinohrady. She wanted to get “umístěnka” (a document containing data about a student that was meant to be placed in a certain company) in Nymburk, which she did, and she joined the Jednota coop. In 1961, she married the newly released political prisoner Vlastimil Krejčí, he was convicted in 1950 in a fabricated political trial in Nymburk. They lived in the same house as their husband’s parents, and in 1961 their daughter Nelly was born. In the relaxed atmosphere of the Prague Spring, the husband began working on his rehabilitation, which he achieved in 1969 and a year later he was financially compensated. After her husband’s death, Marie was persecuted and found help from her family. Subsequently, she lived with her daughter in Prague. During the restitution of Stracký estate, she acknowledged the right of her brother’s landlord and left all the property to him. She now cooperates with the Museum of National History in Nymburk and organizes a family archive.
