"They were staying with us (Russians) and we cooked lunch, my mother cooked lunch, soup. And she cooked plum dumplings. And they said, 'Mamusa, what is it?' So she took a bit, put it on two plates, covered it in curd cheese, the other with poppy seeds, so that they can pick what they like. She offered it to them and they said "Eto charasho". So they said to her, 'Mom, we will bring the boilers.' Two boilers, then they brought the third. In three boilers! My mother chased all the women out of the street, but they said, 'You must go and pick plums for us.' They brought plums, eggs for the dough, butter and everything. And we cooked in the yard. They cooked for a week and they ate only this. That's how they liked it. "
"A friend came to see my husband and we talked a lot, he came from Slovakia. We talked until midnight and we went to bed. And I lie and say, 'This is not possible, but a plane is flying somewhere and wants to land.' Planes were flying from Russia just above our barracks. Well, we didn't know what was happening. My husband quickly turned on the radio and said, 'Milus, the Russians are occupying us.' I opened the door and said, 'Get up, we are occupied by Russians.' I was angry with them. There was nothing here, they occupied us, for God's sake. So they were not brothers forever and never otherwise. "
"When the war ended, everyone in our village said that we would be treated very badly, that a the Russian [Stalin] would take us all to work in Russia. That we will run away with the children and we will be there. That's how people were going. Do you know how? That's what they really meant. So Mom killed a big calf, almost a heifer, and a pig. And she made dry sausages out of everything. And it was in three bags. We had that ready for the journey to have something to eat. Well, everyone said that we would run to Russia, that the Russian would pick us up. Well, nothing happened, so we ate the sausages. "
"For five months, the same Germans lived with us. But you can't imagine how we got along, how they cursed Hitler, swearing they'll kill him. We stayed silent, us children and our mother. She ordered us not to talk. She didn't know whether that is not a trick. So we didn't say anything, there was a large hall nearby (in a pub) where the SS men lived, we had to be very careful. And the Germans staying with us were very nice to us. The one was 18 years old. And he said, 'My life is completely ruined. All of us. And for what? Hitler, if we could, we would kill him. ‘But we were silent, and then the older gentleman who was there, and then one like that, he was a ... by the war, well he just went crazy. And one more. Four of them slept at our place, they had a whole room for themselves. And the old man says, 'I know you must not speak, that you are afraid of us, but we will not betray you. We want the war to end, for Hitler to be shot. '
"Some men came, two, one to us, the other to the other neighbours, with big suitcases. And they wanted us to sell them food. They were walking around Bánov and we had nothing more to sell them. So my mother says: 'Miluška, go with the gentleman to Suchá Loz to my grandmother, they will have. Let him sell as much as he can. Eggs, meat, they just took everything. And when I was with them, we went home to Bánov, because there are buses leaving from there, there is already a state road to Slovakia. And he was Czech, from Prague. And he bought two full suitcases and had a big backpack stacked full. We even got some food from the neighbours and sold it to him. As we returned from Sucha Loz, I screamed: "The Gestapo is coming to get us.' And when they passed, we hurriedly ran as fast as we could and went to Bánov. And then they left, thanking us a lot for rescuing the partisans. That they give it [the food] to them. "
Witness Bohumila Gajdůšková, née Polanská, was born to Antonín and Františka on December 11, 1934 in Bánov near Uherský Brod. The parents farmed on their own farmsteads. Her father died in 1942, and the witness had to be fully involved in helping her mother on the farm. She met the Gestapo several times during World War II. In January 1945, she watched as German security forces arrested a guerrilla in Bánov, and the incident involved shooting. Four months later, she witnessed the execution of a young German soldier. At the end of the war, she saw a number of German troops passing through her native village. In the early 1950s, Bohumila lived with her aunt Anna Šmigurová, who, however, was imprisoned by the communist regime for her business. In 1954, the witness married Jaroslav Gajdůšek and had three daughters with him, Bohumila, Marcela and Alice. The family lived in what was then Gottwald (now Zlín). The witness held apolitical positions throughout her life, but did not agree with the communist regime and refused to join the Communist Party. In 1985, she and her husband and brother Josef made a pilgrimage to Lourdes. At the time of filming the interview (2021), she lived in a home for the elderly in Zlín.
From left, mother of the witness Františka Polanská, her sister Kristýna, grandmother Kateřina Rožková, mother-in-law and mother's sisters Marie and Anna, Bánov 1918
From left, mother of the witness Františka Polanská, her sister Kristýna, grandmother Kateřina Rožková, mother-in-law and mother's sisters Marie and Anna, Bánov 1918
With a friend who came from America. From right: brother Josef Polanský, the witness, friend Zdena Blaháková and her husband Jaroslav. Below, the second husband of Marcela's daughter, Jan Ivanka, Zlín, 1995
With a friend who came from America. From right: brother Josef Polanský, the witness, friend Zdena Blaháková and her husband Jaroslav. Below, the second husband of Marcela's daughter, Jan Ivanka, Zlín, 1995
