Božena Vlčková

"People used to be much nicer to each other no matter their political believe or status. For example, the headmaster and the doctor used to come to our home to play cards with our parents. The class differences weren't as visible as if we lived inland. The doctors would come, the nurses would come, always meeting at our place. It's true that sometimes they'd bring pills or something, but my mother always cooked and baked and hosted them all. They met a lot at our place to play cards ... There was no distinction whether it was a doctor, or a teacher, or an ordinary worker. Because they were all in the same boat."

"The Secret Police always came, I don't know where their car was parked. They wore leather coats. They rang the bell, or banged on the door, or broke down the door. They went around the house and looked into the closets. They threw everything out, including flour. And my mother was already sick, so they just yelled and yelled. They tide my father up, we never saw that, we just always heard the bangs and shouting."

"My father had some contacts, who used to bring something. We never saw what, because we always had to go away, or our mother would lock us upstairs. So we didn't know what it was, but then our father left and went to see them off across the border [to Poland]."

"My mother was versatile, she probably went through a lot too. So she always made sure we had something to eat and to keep us warm. And Ota Konopčík said that when he used to come to Bílá Voda, when my father was imprisoned and my mother didn't have money for milk, she used to sweeten the water and we used to drink only water for breakfast in the morning, warm and sweetened water. Those Poles knew how to cook something out of nothing and she knew how to process everything around her, so she always had something to eat for us. But I say, we were children from the village, so we ate what grew around."