Alena Gavendová

“They were both a very hardworking, my parents that is, so there was no problem. And then in the year 1956 we were still being convinced that we would join the coop, and they still did not want it, they were still trying to avoid it. Well, then this happened: Dad had a friend and he came to us one night. Daddy asked: ´Why are you coming this time of night, waking us up?" And he said: ´Listen, Gusta, I'm coming to warn you as they want you to join the coop, and if you do not do that, they'll lock you up. They will put you in jail for six weeks. And he said: ´No one got killed that in the coop yet and you are hardworking; you are not going to die there either. Well, that's what dad said. ´Come on, they're upsetting me... Because we've lost our field, they've come to persuade us in the coop.´ In the evening we arrived and they were there again. And my father said to them: "I have a crop and I'm going to harvest it, and now give me some peace, I'll join the coop in the autumn. As soon as I dig up the last potatoes. Well, my dad came home and said to my mom: ´I'll tell you something. Kill the goose.´ She said: ´But why?´ ´Just kill the goose, I say, cook the cabbage, make a knock, we'll have guests.´She asked, who was coming. ´Let's get surprised.´ Well, then he added: ´You could still make a nice bun, like a cheesecake I think. You know what? I've already told them I would dig the last potatoes, and then I'll sign up for them. So he signed it. And that is how it was...”

“I remember that even though I was only three years old. I do remember because we moved exactly on my 5th birthday. So I remember exactly that we were going by train and that we had cows in the train, we had furniture, there was a couch and I was sleeping on it. Well, and then I remember that our uncle, who was my father's brother, that he brought us by houses from the station to the house. Well, that was where I grew up.”