Marie Lapišová

"My husband went to work early in the morning, I got up and I saw flying bombers over our block of flats. We lived just at the Polish border in Karvina and there was no flight zone at all, there were no airplanes at all, and suddenly I could see them from the window at seven o'clock in the morning, my husband was gone, I was alone at home, and suddenly I see tank approaching from the polish border, the tanks with those cannons, machine guns directed directly to our block. I was just jerking, that's clear. Now there were no phones, neither fixed line, just nothing. I asked myself: 'What's going on?' And just right in front of the blockhouse they turned in the direction Ostrava on the road under our block. So I rushed out and off to work."

"Then times passed and in March 1990, they announced there will be re-auditioning for the head doctor and the head nurses, because all had to resign as they were, including the director, all together in the (communist) party, all were party leaders, so they had to step down. These auditions were first made for the head doctor. You know how to make auditions, don´t you? There is six or seven people. You know that. The candidates were three or four, and the committee selected the best of the best and the most voted. Then, when the head doctors were done with, they selected the nurses. It was the auditioning procedure. The new head doctor came to see me to ask, if I wanted to be the senior/head sister. I did not want that very much, because the job included sixty people to supervise. That's what I said ... he's just a doctor, I'm the other staff. I said, ´Well, that's terrible, I do not know if I dare it.´ Well, then everyone was backing me up at the department and I finally went for the audition. There were three adepts. Well, so they chose me."