Helena Prokůpková

“I wasn’t all that affected by the end of the war, I was fifteen. The main thing we wanted was peace, so the boys wouldn’t have to serve in the army, the young ones. Our boys hadn’t done service yet. They did later - my brother was with the AEC, the older one that is, not the younger one. My husband also served with the AEC, he was in the mines. My brother worked in construction. My husband was hit by a cave-in, the coal got in under his skin. He said that was the worst, when the wounds scabbed, and then they stripped them off - the pain was terrible.”

“My parents had a farm, we had some twenty-five hectares, twelve cows, two horses. Four horses initially, then just two. My brothers and I had to help from when we were children - we were still attending school but we already had to do various odd jobs, every hand was needed here. I milked cows when I was eighteen.”