We survived the war, God had other plans for us
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Marie Sirkovská, née Melniková, was born on 26 January 1930, the youngest of four children in the Polish part of Volhynia in the village of Ivachkov to a mixed marriage. Her father Lukáš Melnik was Ukrainian, her mother Antónie, née Plšková, Czech. The same year the family moved to the settlement of Kruty Břeh near Zdolbice. World War II divided the family. Brother Saša was captured, after the war he stayed in France. Brothers Vladimír and Jan enlisted in Svoboda’s army, after the liberation they stayed in Czechoslovakia. In 1947, parents and Marie decided to return to Czechoslovakia as part of their re-emigration. Eventually the family settled in Rapotín, in the settlement of Nové Domky. In 1949 Marie Sirkovská married Ota Beneš, a butcher. Two children, Věra and Pavel, were born from the marriage. They lived in Šumperk. After her marriage, she trained as a meat and sausage shop assistant. The marriage ended after seven years. After suffering a spinal injury, Marie Sirkovská retired on disability in 1972. She married a second time to Vojtěch Sirkovský, a widower who was taking care of three sons. They lived in Slovakia near Poprad for two years, then returned to Šumperk. In 2015, Marie Sirkovská moved to Olomouc, closer to her daughter Věra. She lives in a nursing home, where the recording took place in 2023.
