Marie Burkotová

"I was afraid because the partisans were already there, something was going on in Životice. Soldiers would go in there. I got married in the meantime, and I was married for a year and a half when I was about to go on maternity leave. I had a daughter at the age of twenty-one. I had to turn in these shopping coupons because I couldn't serve behind the counter being pregnant. I went to the health insurance office, and they were taking stock at the shop in Životice while they were shooting... our customers were coming through the forest to our store to shop. And we heard the shots, the shooting... and the barns, and there were... people I know... killed under that barn. We were taking stock, and it was such chaos... Buses would drive by, taking the dead to Orlová to the mass cemetery. Thery shot I don't know how many people - it's written on the plaque in Životice. The buses would pass us and the road was narrow. I was glad I had already left the shop and was on maternity leave."

"The Germans came, so the Poles had to... vacate any important positions. Those of Polish nationality had to be in the warehouse and drive the trucks delivering the goods, but couldn't be the manager. I came to work at that the shop as their manager. Sixteen years old, and I was the manager. But then the Germans came, and I didn't know German... just a little bit; my brother went to German school, but I didn't. So the Germans came and they were the Gestapo, soldiers dressed up, and I was scared. They asked me for butter or this and that, and I didn't know if I could or couldn't, if they were testing me or if it was serious. It felt like having one foot in the grave."