I still miss the place, even now when I think of it!
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Libuše Kubinová, née Krámská, comes from Český Malín in the Volhynia region. Her parents owned a farm there and her father also had additional income from shoemaking work. The family was doing well, but since Libuše’s father had two other brothers, his family had to move from Malín to nearby Zborov. Moving out of Malín has probably saved their lives. Libuše remembers Malín vividly, especially her going to school and local religious festivals and processions. Her father stressed the importance of proper education, and she enjoyed going to the local school, where classes were in Polish, but a Czech teacher was present as well. The Krámský family spoke only in Czech at home, but all of them were able to communicate in Polish and Ukrainian as well, and Libuše’s father was also proficient in Russian. The World War Two broke out when the family was already living in Zborov. They prospered and they did not suffer from poverty, but they subsequently had to feed the soldiers of all the three armies: the German army, the Soviet army, and the Ukrainian UPA, as well as the partisans who were operating in the region. The family survived the air raids on nearby village Pjeň hidden in the basement. From the window they later saw the soldiers who would go to burn down the village Český Malín on July 13, 1943. Her father’s two brothers with their families and his sister have died in the massacre. Libuše’s cousin and several of her girlfriends from the village managed to save their lives under dramatic circumstances. Libuše did not return to school after the war as she was helping her parents on their farm instead. In 1947 the entire Krámský family relocated to Czechoslovakia together with many other Czechs from Volhynia. The journey took one week and they brought with them a horse, two cows, pigs, nine hens and a rooster. At first they stayed in Broumov, then in Otovice and eventually they settled in Rožmitál. Libuše married and had children, and she and her husband worked in the fields. She now lives in Broumov again and she has six grandchildren. She has visited Malín three times since their moving to Czechoslovakia and she has never forgotten the place of her childhood. Her greatest desire is to be able to see Malín one more time.
