We had to leave our farm in thirty minutes
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Karel Koranda was born on 7 August 1931 in Dvory nad Lužnicí in Vitorazsko Region where his parents farmed a family farm. After the Munich Agreement in Autumn 1938, the village became part of Upper Austria and the then German Reich. Witness´s father Ludvík became a German citizen. The Revolutionary Guards came to Korandas´ house after the liberation in May 1945. The family had to leave the house in half an hour and they left for Austria. The witness and his family stayed at their friends´ in Gmünd in Lower Austria. In February 1946 the Czechoslovak authorities allowed the Korandas to return to Czechoslovakia, however, they could not move to their farm. Karel trained to be a locksmith in Central Bohemia. After the end of his military service in 1954, he settled in Suchdol nad Lužnicí. He spent the majority of his life working for the state forests, where he serviced machines. The Korandas gained back their property in restitution at the beginning of the 1990s. They were given their native home in Dvory back in dilapidated condition and they had to have it demolished. Karel Koranda lived in Suchdol nad Lužnicí in 2021.
