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Blazena Svitakova

b. 1940

Born
16 Oct 1940, Prague
Country of birth
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, today Czechia

Living person. The family sees only the name, dates and photo; everything else stays private unless they choose to share it.

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Facts and their sources

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  • Birth16 Oct 1940, PragueProbable1 source

A life in time

  1. Born · Prague

    Birth, Prague

  2. Child born: Catarina Agnese Torlonia

    Birth

What was it like?

The world around Prague, 1940: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Blazena was born the same year as John Lennon, Pelé, and Bruce Lee.

Born the same year

  • John Lennon

    British musician (1940–1980)

  • Pelé

    Brazilian footballer (1940–2022)

  • Bruce Lee

    Hong Kong–American martial artist and actor (1940–1973)

  • Jair da Costa

    Brazilian footballer (1940–2025)

  • Al Pacino

    American actor (born 1940)

  • Wangari Muta Maathai

    Kenyan environmentalist and politician who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 (1940–2011)

Fashion

Clothing Rationing and Mandatory Recycling

From 1939, citizens were issued non-transferable clothing ration stamps (šatenky) valid for one year, forcing widespread recycling, mending, and repurposing of old textiles, such as re-stitching clothes and rabbit hides. Authorities strictly limited household stocks, and one official was even arrested for hoarding items like 150 pairs of stockings and 27 suits.

Efficient Fashion and Versatile Suits

To maximize efficiency with limited resources, women often used detachable white silk collars and cuffs to transform a simple office dress into a suitable outfit for evening social events like cinema or cafes. A classic, high-quality suit remained the most versatile garment in a woman's wardrobe, recommended as a better investment than owning multiple pieces of poor-quality clothing.

Music

Czech youth subculture and swing music

Czech youth during the Protectorate created a subculture associated with swing music and jazz dances like the cakewalk and shimmy.

Around 1947–1949

Socialist folk dance performances

In the late 1940s, socialist ensembles performed staged folk suites like Carnival Jamboree, which used traditional masks alongside modern characters like tractor drivers.

Getting around

Travel time between Prague and Brno

In 1918, the rail journey between Prague and Brno took six hours, and even with later improvements, it took five hours by 1960.

Baťa Canal coal transport journey time

Coal was transported on the 53.5 km long Baťa Canal, where tugboats took 12 hours to travel the route and passed through 14 locks.

Daily life

Changes in children's schooling during occupation

Schools increased German language instruction hours significantly, while teaching Czech literature was restricted or linked to German literature after 1941. By 1945, regular attendance practically ceased due to coal shortages and air raid threats, with students instead receiving homework assignments.

Cooking and food rationing challenges

Cooking occurred on traditional coal-fired ranges, and food shortages led to the use of artificial substitutes like synthetic fats and honey. Families often relied on rationing and black market bartering, such as trading a leather hat for scarce goods like meat or fat.

Food

Bread staples and rare herring delicacies

Basic bread was the primary food staple, with an average four-member family consuming 6.5 kg per week, while treats like a single salted herring were rare delicacies rationed only once every three months.

Creative food substitutes and extreme waste reduction

Families practiced extreme food conservation, such as using potato water for soup, mixing margarine with beef tallow, and replacing whole eggs with grated potatoes or soy flour in recipes.

Prices and wages

Rising Butter Prices 1939-1940

Between March 1939 and April 1940, the price of butter in the Protectorate rose by 50 percent, from 21 to 32 korunas per kilogram.

Around 1945–1945

Average Monthly Wage in 1945

In 1945, the average monthly gross wage in Czechoslovakia was 834 crowns.

Work

Mandatory labor and work control systems

All citizens aged 18 to 50 were subject to forced labor, and the state established labor offices to control the workforce, including mandatory labor books introduced in 1941. Citizens could be assigned to work either within the Protectorate or in Germany, and those refusing faced loss of benefits or other penalties.

Mandatory nighttime curfew regulations

A strict curfew was enforced from midnight to 6 a.m., requiring all citizens to remain at home. Exceptions were only granted by the mayor if an individual's profession specifically required them to be out during those hours.

News and letters

Express mail was for priority delivery

In the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, the Express service did not mean faster transit, but rather priority delivery once the mail reached the local destination post office.

Prisoners were restricted to fortnightly letters

Political prisoners in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp were permitted to write letters home only once every fortnight, with their contents strictly restricted by censorship.

During their lifetime

  1. 1941

    Theresienstadt ghetto created (1941)

    The Nazi regime established the Theresienstadt ghetto, which became a transit site for deportations to extermination camps.

  2. 1942

    Heydrich assassinated (1942)

    Czechoslovak parachutists assassinated Reinhard Heydrich, leading to brutal reprisals including the destruction of Lidice and Ležáky.

  3. 1953

    1953 Currency Reform and Price Hikes

    A currency reform in 1953 invalidated savings and ended rationing, causing a severe drop in the living standard that made it harder to support a family than before.

  4. 1968

    1968 Warsaw Pact Invasion

    On August 20, 1968, troops from the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries occupied Czechoslovakia, effectively ending the period of democratic liberalization.

  5. 1989

    1989 Velvet Revolution

    The bloodless Velvet Revolution began in November 1989, leading to the resignation of Communist Party leaders and the election of Vaclav Havel as president.

  6. 1993

    1993 Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

    On January 1, 1993, the Czech Republic and the Republic of Slovakia were peacefully established as separate, independent nations.

Family

Spouses

Children

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.