Alena Crhová

“When dad was in prison he met people from the other villages who were in prison too... We were to be evicted; dad bought a big crop thresher where all you did was throw crops in; we used it for one year and they took it away the next year, and the entire village would come to us. We had seven cows, mum had four children to take care of, yet the communists ordered her to go clean up for them; and still, the people did not swear at the communists – they swore at us and said they would not work in a kulak’s fields: the communists set people against each other.”

“We did not exploit anyone; my wife and I often worked at night, but then the Nazis came, searching for whatever they could find to eat, they would plunder and even put us in concentration camps for a long time, but we were hoping it would end and Hitler would go to hell; Romanians and Russians shortly after tried to take what they could, and when the comrades took power they were worse than others; they said, we take new care of you, we give you people’s republic, but they took our food and forced us to provide supplies – what care of us! Those unwilling to work set about planning for us. Others, who never knew how to feed a pig, wanted to have a word over pig killings, and they schooled people so well that they were even grateful for that. Skipping school, children would verse with Karel Havlíček: ‘Being a policeman is such fun, I can put anyone I want behind bars.’”