They were cut off from their homes by the Soviet occupation. They were taken in by a Romanian Czech
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František Štika was born on 3 June 1948 and grew up in the Czech village of Šumice in the Romanian Banat. He completed four grades at the local school and from 1959 continued his studies at the twelve-year school in Božovice. His father, Ferdinand Štika, worked as a teacher for several years, but spent most of his career as secretary of the national committee (municipality) in the neighbouring Romanian village of Lapušník. After graduating from lyceum and passing his high school diploma in 1966, he completed his compulsory military service, during which he became a member of the Communist Party of Romania. After his return, he worked briefly in the teaching staff in Lapušnik. In August 1968, he participated in several days of teacher training in Karansebes, where he offered help to Czech families stranded in Romania after the occupation of Czechoslovakia. In 1971, he became an employee of a savings bank in Orsava, where he started a family. At the time of filming (September 2023) he lived alternately in Oršava and Šumice.