Bohumil Benák

Interviewer: “Let me come back to your father. That is interesting, as he was a Czech citizen, so he was ordered to come back to Bohemia before WW2… Was he alone or more were coming from the neighbourhood?” – “He was amongst the first ones from Zagreb consulate. He got (money –editor´s note) to travel to Bohemia. It was in the Unity (to join the Czechoslovak army – editor´s note). Few Czechs got back to Bohemia as even Yugoslavia was more with Hitler, and were not letting people go anymore; and another thing – they didn’t make it there, as the Sudeten borderland was already taken, so there was no need to go. So he was amongst the first one who got there. But he could not come back via Austria, not even Hungary, so he chose Ruthenia and Rumania, which took longer.“ Interviewer: “When he returned, was he disappointed not to be able to fight?” – “He was disappointed that the Germans were taking over the Czech lands. Very disappointed indeed. That is why he never liked them.” Interviewer: “So that was quite a dangerous situation to join the partisans. Were you not afraid?” – “We were afraid altogether. But here in Lipovec were all Czechs, so we didn’t fear anyone would leak any information on anyone. We definitely didn’t fear that. But it was a little tense.” Interviewer: “If anyone would have leaked it, what would have happened?” – “He´d be locked up in Jasanovec or similar and executed. It was very dangerous, but eventually all worked out all right.”

“There was no school (in Lipovec – editor´s note), we used to go to school in Daruvar, that was nothing. And half smaller than Lipovec. There was no employment anywhere, everyone was farming. We had two or three cows and a bit of field. We worked on it using horses, it was a heavy labour. Farmer´s life was difficult, there was nothing to sell, well hard to sell as there was too little money in circulation. And there were taxes, we had to pay them obligatorily and if not, they came and took your cow to sell it.” Interviewer: “Was Lipovec any different from other villages, when Czech were here?” – “I believe that Lipovec was quite advance in comparison to other villages. It was not the only totally Czech village; let’s say Končenice and Brestov and Dežanovec, but all those had a bit higher level than those with no Czechs at all. You learnt about it in everything, that we are a hard-working nation. The Czechs used to buy farming machines from Bohemia, which they needed here, as there were only very few to work with. And also our Czech children they all went to school, either Czech or Croatian and were always a bit more advanced. And as they were ahead, adults were likewise.”