Jan Jusa and Zdeňka Jusová, U Opavice 4, July 23, 2018
“First we need to determine what we mean by a prefabricated block of flats.”
The Jusa family moved to the 7th floor at U Opavice 4 in 1965 and raised two daughters here. Prior to that, they lived in a small attic flat for teachers in the nearby village of Velké Hoštice, where Zdeňka taught at the local primary school. That flat lacked private facilities or functional heating, and thus the couple welcomed the opportunity to move to a three-room apartment at U Opavice 4 when it was made available to them. Jan worked at the time in Ostroj, first as a locksmith, later as an apprenticeship program supervisor. After 1968 he was forced to leave Ostroj and later was hired as a technician at the local waterplant. Jan likes to spend his free time flying gliders, a hobby to which he was happy to return in 1989 after a forced, post-1968 hiatus. Zdeňka worked until her retirement as a teacher at local public schools, including the Ochranova middle school attended by many children from the U Opavice neighborhood. In the interview, they both speak very highly of the cooperative model of housing. Jan explains the difference between the various types of concrete block materials used in the construction of prefabricated apartment buildings in different periods. Zdeňka recalls the first New Year’s celebration the couple and their friends held in their new flat. The water supply was interrupted and the lift was out of order that day, and thus she with a friend had to carry water in buckets to the 7th floor apartment from the river (an activity in which Jan, reportedly, did not participate). Both Jan and Zdeňka appreciate the recent revitalization of the apartment buildings under the coop unit head Vojtěch Kostka.
