Marie Janáková

„Then when the Germans came, he got agitated. Those sermons! People were coming from all over the district to hear him preach. The Lipnice church was packed with people. But he couldn’t do it for long, they did not let him. I remember that it was his last sermon, that he shouted: ‚Those little cottages under the mountains, what happened to thee?‘ The old crones were crying. But allegedly, the Germans were already laid in ambush in the sacristy. That was his last sermon, then they came for him and nobody ever saw him again. I don’t know, some people said that he died in hospital. I don’t know how exactly it was but he was tortured.”

"In general, we saw it the way it was presented to us, that it is our victory, that the workers will have better lives, that now, finally, they will have some power. As we felt opressed until then. We were pretty happy about it."

„It still was not this co-op when he [my husband] started working there, it was not in order. There were still those who resisted so they needed to be persuaded. I remember that one Nouza came here to persuade me, that they did not let him slaughter a pig because he had not fulfilled the production quota. So he complained here and I felt sorry for him as well. I went to the National Committee, I cried and I said: ‘Husband, grab a shovel and rather go shovelling than this, so that we have some peace!’ He did not like it either, he did not do it himself, it was for the sake of the whole committee. He did only what was needed. It was tough. I think that he was pretty fed up with that after four years. I guess that it made his illness worse.”