Věra Zárubová

“The whole class was assigned to forced labour in the arms industry, in a German firm that produced aircraft components. The work was in three shifts, mornings from six to two, afternoons from two to ten [p.m.], nights from ten to six. They would count our components towards the end of the shift. We had them displayed on our table, to show how many we’d made. What we did is that we quietly moved the parts from table to table, so we fulfilled the quota, while in actual fact we didn’t produce even half of what the plan required. The boys used to take an accordion with them, and past eight o’clock there was dancing and merriment on the shop floor. But that was only right before the end of the war, when the German foremen knew that the war was lost, and they behaved very nicely to us. They tried to build up an alibi, that they had always been very kind to us.”

“The times in 1944, before and after, were cruel for those who had no support out in the country and suffered from a lack of food. We had contacts in the country, and so my parents used to go get flour, mainly. Mum would visit her brother in Moravský Krumlov. But that was already part of the Sudetes back then, and so instead of Moravský Krumlov we’d go to Ivančice and then make the nigh three-hour walk to Dobřínsko. My parents carried really heavy backpacks those three hours, and then we walked back to Ivančice. They often had inspections in the train and at the train station, but we always managed to get the supplies through without arrest or pursuit. My parents didn’t just procure food for our family, it was for friends and relations as well.”