The idea for this work came from the photograph of my father Oto Hudec Sr., my aunt Ivana Hudecová and my grandmother Helena Hudecová having lunch in front of their car, Skoda 100 l in former Yugoslavia. The photo was taken during their holidays in Seventies by my grandfather Dezider Hudec. As it used to be hanging on the wall in their room, I became so familiar with it, that it almost became a part of my own memory, even though in that time I was not yet born.

The Czechoslovak camera Flexaret that was used to make this photo was given to me by my grandfather last year. I repaired it and used it since.

HELENA HUDECOVÁ :

At the time when we started to teach, “embecka” (Škoda MB), came to the village and we were observing it as a rarity.

DEZIDER HUDEC:

The payments for teacher and director of the school were really small, less than 1000 Kčs per month (approx. 133 USD). It was just for the basic living, only after it had increased to 1300 could I start to save money for a car.

HELENA HUDECOVÁ :

The system of buying was different from now. It was not as easy to go to the shop and buy it. It was necessary to sign up on a list and then wait. And when the trains were passing through our village, we were watching the wagons with new Škodas. We were counting the cars, because we knew, which number on the list was ours. It was around three years that we waited.

We came happily home in our new Škoda 1000 MB and we made a plan for a trip the next day. In the morning my husband woke me up saying that it looked like there was going to be a war. It was August 21, 1968 and the Soviet army had entered the country. There was panic. People were running to the shops to get reserves.

DEZIDER HUDEC :

During our travel we came upon a convoy of cars, soldiers, and at the end a soldier with an automatic gun. I thought about turning back, but it was already too late. We were crisscrossing between tanks and they were making the passage difficult.

IVANA URCIKÁNOVÁ :

One of my strongest memories from childhood is participating in Spartakiáda*. I was in my seventh grade of primary school. To be chosen we had to go through three concourses – beginning with the school and ending with the city wide selection. When we were finally chosen to go to Prague we were very happy. We had red dresses and under the armpits, from the bottom to the top and around the hip was a white stripe. So when we the thousand girls put our hands up, the white stripe appeared. The choreography was based on that.

We were exercising in Strahov stadium in Prague. It was huge. There was a man speaking in a megaphone giving us orders. What was ok and what was not, where to go, which group to belong. The final show was very nice, the stadium was full, everybody clapping hands.

______________________________________________________________________________

*Spartakiáda: Mass gymnastics display held every five years at the Strahov Stadium in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The number of performers reached 750 000 with more than 2 000 000 spectators