Josef Kubný

"After what happened when we didn't put the horses in, we burned out. Dad said somebody must have done it. Of course. Because it was burning from the back. They said it was from the chimney. But it was from the back. Someone came in from the garden and set it on fire. We burnt down and my parents wanted permission for a new building. But they said, "No, no. You don't get planning permission. After you sign it.' Mum signed it, of course, but Dad didn't. So they got the permit. When we burned down, Mom and Dad were living in the "špýchar". That's the granary. That's where they had a bed. There and done. And my brother and I slept with my aunt."

"Then they came for the horses. There were six or ten of them, and they came with a gendarme. I went with my father through the cottage to the stable. I went in there with him. He took a pitchfork and stood in the doorway and stood. One of the men, a secretary from Opava, or wherever they were from, ordered, 'Comrade, give me the horse!' Dad stood in the doorway, I stood behind him, and I can hear it like today, when Dad said, 'No! I won't give you the horse! You took everything from me, but I won't give you the horse!'"