Jan Chloupek

"In the evening we went to bed. Suddenly we were awakened by a terrible blow, and we were sleeping with our parents in their bed in the bedroom. We all woke up not knowing what had happened. We saw a guy in the window, another guy behind him, the window was broken. We heard another guy screaming in the hall. The one who was in the window jumped into the bedroom and started shouting at my father: 'Get dressed, you're coming with us.' We children were crying, and so was our mother. Dad had to get dressed, they took him away. We couldn't sleep at all, we wanted Daddy."

"Nobody wanted to join the cooperative, but the communists forced them to. If they didn't obey, they were threatened with eviction from the village and confiscation of their property. To be evicted from the village and not work in agriculture, my parents could not imagine. In 1951, they sent the cows to a common stable. I remember what it was like to cry when the cows and other cattle were taken away from our house. They left one cow for my parents."