Marie Dobešová

"Since we didn't want to join the agricultural cooperative, we were given completely useless fields. Always somewhere on the sidelines where it was poorly manageable. So we had a field right here and then right there. And we moved alternately. Someone took our field, and we got a different one somewhere else. They came to persuade us to join the cooperative. I remember, once we were in the barn, dad had cows there, and we were stacking the grain. And dad was telling someone: 'Where's my whip?' He wanted to go out with the cows. And those comrades who were there and wanted to persuade him: 'I hope not!' They were afraid my father wanted to use the whip on them [laughter]. And he only wanted to go out with the cows."

“Grandma was hidden behind the barn where there were planks. She couldn't go anywhere in the basement. And we were under the barn - we have a cellar there. And there is a canopy and steps down. There we had a machine set up on those steps so that the steps could not be seen. And we climbed into the cellar through a side window. The neighbours were there too. We were there together because they had no such cellar. So we had ottomans and beds and the bare essentials there. So we climbed up there, and when the soldiers were already leaving, the Germans told us, ‘Just wait, you don't have to worry now, but wait for the others to come after us.’ They knew about us, and they talked to us through the window. They also had some animals and some machines in the barn and they also had a boiler there - they cooked there for the army. And I really can't say about them that... They knew about us and treated us nicely. And then it was different.”

"I remember that the inspection also came. And we had a barn down here, and a pig was hanging in that barn. But he was such a solid person that he acted like he didn't see it, even when he saw it. He didn't report it. So we didn't have any such inconvenience. And otherwise, we had to hand over a certain amount - for the number of cows - of milk, a certain amount of eggs and fat from the slaughterhouse. We did all of that. We took the eggs to the shop, and the shopkeeper always had to check if they were fresh - if they were alright. And I brought the eggs to the store, and he said: 'But these are really bad.' And I said: 'How is that possible, it's fresh eggs.' 'Alright, try and crack one then.' And they were boiled! I boiled eggs in the morning, made a mistake and brought the boiled eggs [laughs]."