Jan Melnik

“The Communist bashaws in the factory were discussing what to do with me. Some said: 'Shoot him dead as a threat to the Ukrainians.' Some said: 'Oh no, there is about ten percent of the Czechs in the factory. We would get in a bad odour with people here.' There were simply three possibilities. Either shoot dead or twenty-five years in Siberia or 'vojenkomat' (military commissariat). The third option won. One day, it was already the end of the driving lessons, I did just everything in the factory, a brigadier came: 'There are some guests for you.' I gave a start. I have been taking heart pills since then. It's been many years now. They took me to the collective camp, to the military commissariat first. I slept there over in my clothes and shoes on. They chased us back the next day. Those who were in the lock-up, they were beating them: 'Were you with the OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists)? - 'No, I weren't.' Well, those who were with the Ukrainian Nationalist were beaten. Who with, where and what. However, they eliminated me out of that. I had a different section.”

“He came at night, he woke the ten fresh Red Army members up and we were given a little piece of paper by him. It was an oath of a fresh soldier: I, Mr X, am taking an oath. We were given a gun each, it was unloaded and without a bayonet, of course. We were asked to read the oath. Then we all had to shout: 'I'm serving the Soviet Union.' Sign. Then we were allowed to lie down and sleep.”

“An officer from the People's Committee came and he brought some documents saying that we were supposed to pay a hundred-ruble tax. Our neighbour Šmíd had about 12 hectars and he also had a hundred rubles to pay. My Dad wondered at that and said: 'Is there any justice at all? He has got 12 hectares and one hundred rubles and I have got 5 hectares and I also have one hundred rubles.' - 'One hundred and fifty rubles!' And he crossed a hundred out and wrote one hundred and fifty instead. If you didn't pay it in a fortnight, off you went to Siberia.”

“So I went, I looked – some manure just in the middle of the road and some more on the side. I said to myself: 'Somebody carried manure and the horses were not strong enough so he dropped a little here and there again...' I was approaching it and it got up. It was no manure. It was my ex-classmate from Ivačkov school. 'Have you got any weapons?' I replied: 'What would I do with a weapon.' - 'Well, where have you been?' So I said that... And all of a sudden those there got up as well and let me kind of go.”