Mgr. Milada Machů

„Ten, za nimi šlo, tak u nás zastavilo před mlýnem, kde ti, co vyměňovali mouku a přijeli s povozem, tak bylo prostranství. A zastavilo rusácké takový džíp nebo takové auto. A šli na chodbu. A: ,Davaj, davaj, davaj!´Na tatínka. Oni mysleli, že je to buržoás. ,Buržua, buržua! Pajdi s námi! Davaj, davaj!´Maminka před něho předskočila, stála s námi. Vyšla ze dveří z kuchyně a, a říkala: ,A strelaj!´Jako tomu důstojníkovi tomu ruskému. ,A strieľaj! Muža niet, mňa strieľaj, já jeho žena!´ A on sklopil. A potom ten nějaký asi říkal: ,Da, da, da. My panimáli, my panimáli.´A odešli k těm Fajtům. Tak toto si pamatuju. Tatínka mysleli, když viděli velký dům na vesnici, že to je já nevím co." - „A oni na něj tedy mířili?" - „Ano, mířil. Ten jeden voják takový, no."

„A on se na Mikuláše ptal: ,Tak děti, co jste dostaly za dárky?´ No a já jsem byla obdařena slovem a mluvením, tak jsem se postavila: ,Já jsem nedostala nic, protože nemáme tatínka! Tatínek je pryč!´ A ten Bosák, Jindřich, pátého je Mikuláše, večer, a on šestého Mikuláše donesl jako do okna nám. Já jsem dostala Broučky, knihu, krásnou, doteďka ji mám. Sestra dostala knihu Boženu Němcovou, Babičku, s filmovými tedy prvními filmovými obrázky, jak byla Božena Němcová zfilmovaná, Babička, a brácha, Lubomír, ten dostal Čapkův Ze života hmyzu. My jsme měli takovou radost! A to nám donesl ten pan učitel za to, že jsem tam řekla, že tatínka nemáme."

“My father didn´t speak much about his painful experiences. He kept them buried inside. From there (from interrogations in Brno), he was sent to a labour camp in Auschwitz. I say “Thank God“ in inverted commas because there was also an extermination camp and whoever got to the extermination camp, had no, absolutely no chance of return. There he made use of his knowledge of machinery and was an organizer among the members of the Sokol Movement. He even remembered that they had made a „hadřák“, a ball made of rags. Before they escorted them out of the shags where they slept to the places of work, they played with this „hadřák.“ Once a kapo with his whip came in. He is looking at them asking – What are you doing? My father replied that they were killing time before they were taken to the gas chambers – and in the meantime playing football. He couldn´t understand this and wanted to hit my father with his whip but didn´t manage as my father jumped quickly sideways. The kapo then left dissatisfied. These are the stories that stayed with me and I think of my father with a bit of nostalgia and admiration that he could behave like that.“

„In the 1950s when the nationalization was on, my father had up to about ten employees, I think. He still believed that the mill would not be nationalized, not be taken by the state. Mr Šerý, the owner of the mill, gave him the power of atttorney, to make a decision. He said they would not nationalize it because they went gradually up to fifty employees etc. in nationalizing properties. Well, his turn came, my father refused and there was an argument. They used a made up accusation that he did some “illegal milling of flour“ which had been forbidden and the Communists arrested him again. Again imprisoned him in Uherské Hradiště. There his acquaintance Mr Tarabus, I had mentioned before, helped him. He was allowed to work in the kitchen as a cook. Once as he was being taken to the kitchen by a prison guard, he could see that Mr – can I speak about this? – Grebeníček, the father of today´s Member of Parliament if he still holds the post, I am not sure, had all his inmates standing in front of their prison cells to be checked in the morning. They had to turn to be facing the wall and as he was walking on, he grabbed each of them by the nape and banged the prisoners´ heads hard once or twice against the wall. My father was shocked to see that. Very much. When he told this to us before his death – you will understand why I felt so much scared.“

„I grew up in a relatively well-to-do family, considering the situation then, which also had an influence on my schoolmates´ behaviour towards me at elementary school. They always knew how to remind me of my different and higher social status. I started school right before the beginning of WWII. In the village of Bylnice there was terrible poverty because there was no work for the parents of my schoolmates. There was only a local sawmill and no other industry, nothing in that time. So, I have to admit that my classmates often asked me for a piece of homemade cake which my mother, coming from a mill, was very good at making. I often had an impression that they were trying to gain my friendship in exchange for something to eat, for a piece of grub, as we would say then.“