We were not worried about coming to the Czech Republic. Those who came after the war settled here too.
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Josef Bouda was born on 22 April 1939 in the Czech village of Gerník in the Romanian Banat. He spent his first years with his family near the old Oršava. His father managed a mill and the land of an unnamed army officer. After the war, he went to school in Gernik, where the family farmed less than three hectares of land. Father Karel worked in the fields, in the coal mines and also as a carpenter. Between 1951 and 1956, when some of the families from Gernik were displaced to the Bãrãgan area, the witness’s father was in charge of some of the properties. For example, he acquired the forge of the Bradacs, which they got back after their return from Bãrãgan. The witness learned the blacksmith trade in his hometown under the master blacksmith Maštalíř and, together with his brother, built their own workshop. He had to pause his work for several years and worked as a guard in coal mines for four years before returning to his craft. In 1992, he sold off his property and, together with his wife, moved to Western Bohemia to be closer to their sons. Before retiring, he worked as a guard at an agricultural cooperative. At the time of the recording, he was living in the village of Dolní Luby (April 2024).”
