Marie Hatvaniová

Marie Hatvaniová neè Havelková
Born 1912 in the district called Zichpil of Humpolec, Austria, died 3. 3. 1985 in Prague, grave in Humpolec (desecrated & demolished in about 2016).
Husband František
Children Karol and Hana.

     

She was my mother. I just unearthed a single picture of her, sitting in her kitchen at Racišdorfská ulica 794 sometime in 1955:

Below she is shown during break while working for about 3 weeks in the school canteen in Bratislava-Krasnany. She was briefly famous there as the one from the "cauliflower war", for she started throwing the noble vegetables at her co-worker (& our neighbour at that) Mrs. Halenárová, during some dispute about the correct way if dissecting the said vegetables):

    A medium height fat person with brownish hair. Her face vaguely resembled that of her father's (Josef Havelka). From her mid-thirties she suffered from a variety of ailments associated with obesity - high blood pressure, heart palpitations, enlarged thyroid gland, later diabetes, cerebral haemorrhage in 1984, and eventually died of heart failure while in hospital for tests.

    Born in Humpolec she moved to Bratislava with her parents in 1921/22. Because of her father’s almost continuous absence from 1914 up to 1920 she lived with her grandparents (Adolf Havelka and wife Anna), together with her siblings. Finished secondary schooling in Bratislava and (probably) worked briefly as a clerk till married to my father in 1935. I do not think she ever worked after that, except for a few days here and there helping in the school cafeteria and such.

Despite having lived in Slovakia since she was 10, she never learned the local language and spoke with a mixture of tongues: Czech laced with Slovakian in Bratislava, Slovakian laced with Czech in Humpolec. Always fond of returning to Humpolec, we spent every summer school holidays there (July & August), until I was about 14 or 15 and chose to stay with my grandparents in Bratislava.
In Humpolec she did not socialise with anybody, to my knowledge, except with the relatives. With her mother she had a bit of a turbulent relationship and the two were often not on speaking terms. On a few occasions my parents would rent a house or a flat in Humpolec, instead of living, as was heretofore customary, with her mother in her spacious house. On those occasions I was told not to speak to "the old witch", which I ignored for of the 'bába' I was rather fond.

    I never liked my mother's sharp tongue much - she had a hurting way with words (fairly common trait with speakers of the Czech very rich and flexible language) and was usually able to say something unpleasant or sarcastic about almost anybody or anything. Except for the earliest childhood, I always wanted to be away from her. I do not remember how it happened, but since I was about 7 years old, I have lived with my paternal grandparents at Racianska Street a few kilometres away from my parent's flat (which was next to S.K. Bratislava Club stadium).

    I liked, however, to come "home" to my parents’ flat on occasions, for I liked some of her cooking: buchty, takarty, makové slíze, coffee, knedloveprozelo... But I was equally glad when, after the meal, I could disappear home again to my grandparents house some 5 km away...

She had no interests except for solving crosswords puzzles with a cup of coffee on the side. I do not recall her reading of any particular book, and of her husband’s fondness of literature she had a fairly low opinion. Like many women I know she was obsessed with cleanliness, often seen wielding a broom, mop or a wet rag, while loudly admonishing "all those dirty people" who happened to be within her voice range.

In Bratislava she had a few Czech acquaintances with whom she would meet in the street for a long talk. Despite having lived in Bratislava from the age of 10 she did not like the Slovakians (or the Hungarians, or Germans, of whom there were many in Bratislava at the time). While going to Humpolec (about 400 km away) at least once a year for a few months, we have never been to Sala nad Váhom (70 km away) to see the relatives from my father's side (this, however, could have been my father's fault, too: we could if he wanted to...).

    She had no ear for music, and she did not like my father's attempts at playing the violin; her sharp tongue had no problems with stopping him.

    She had a way of starting endless arguments with anybody about anything, and that was one of the main reasons why I wanted to be away from her.

    I remember her being with her sister Otka and her daughter Krasava in Humpolec, as well as visiting her brother Gustav there, but I have no recollections concerning details of their relationship. With the Škrába and Štepek family in Humpolec she had quite a good and, I guess, cordial relations.















     

Here she is shown as about 15-years old (on the right), with her sister Otka (Otylie) on the left. The girl in the middle I was not able to identify.

She was fond of writing letters to various members of our family. A sample of her handwriting is shown below. She writes from Prague to us in Australia about preparation for their annual holiday to the Humpolec, the place of her birth, about the flat they live in Prague which is located close to the flat where her daughter Hanka lives, about her husband's habit of watching sports on the TV, about her lack o balance which causes her to fall, etc.