Marie Sněhotová

"We live nearby, so my husband and I went there. We were shocked. There was one fire truck after another arriving. They were trying to put the fire out, but it was impossible. The fire kept spreading. It was five o’clock when everything burnt out. The tower fell, it collapsed, as well as the rest of the church. And then the bishop arrived at six o’clock in the morning. So we were glad to see him there, and he promised to re-build the church. And people started arguing. Some wanted a stone church, saying it would be safer than a wooden one. Others wanted it preserved. The bishop was also in favour of keeping the original one. My husband had retired, so he spent many days there with the workers, seeing how the construction was done, how the beams were carved and how it was built."

"My mother was religious and my father went to church now and then. Our neighbour, Mr. Kaloč, once talked him into voting for the communists. He said he would be fine, that everything would be great under socialism. So my father voted for the communists in 1946. I was eight years old then, but I could hear my parents arguing and it was not pleasant. Then February came and my father 'sobered up' immediately when he saw what was happening. And then he was labelled a capitalist. So we lived humbly. Not wealthy at all."