„My uncle, who had a wheelwright, so he bought a field there and they remade it into a park. So, we could say, there was a practically hectare field planted with young trees. And there was also the cottage, where our dad accommodate a parachute for several days, who he later moved to another place near Pardubice and the cottage brought the possibility to do so. I also know from word of mouth that everything was secret and dangerous and the local announcement board in Křesetice carried an information that in that locality is a partisan, a dangerous person for the protectorate and the Reich. So when my aunt figured it out, she was chasing dad to move the guy elsewhere, otherwise Křesetice would not have existed in the original form anymore. Similarly to Lidice and Ležáky.“
„During the war we listened to London regularly. It was secret, the radio was in the room and I was in the kitchen. We did not know or should not have known about it, because children talk a lot without thinking and there is a lot of ado about it. And I know that at one point during the war dad was almost too active in resistance, so they were quite frightened. And I remember that we had striking clock on the wall, that stuck half and the whole hour. And at night the clock had to be put into kitchen so they´d not wake dad and he´d think they´re banging and coming for him.“
„They let us out of school on February 25 or whenever it was. I don´ t remember clearly, but we had to learn it at school by heart including birthdays of various chieftains. And it was snowing as we were leaving school. I came back home and said: Mum, they let us from school, look it is snowing, I am taking the sledge and go to the hill. And my mum said: ,You will not go anywhere, there´ll be shooting!‘“
Josef Novotný was born on 7 August 1937 in Prague. His family originally came from Kutná Hora, before the war they moved to Prague. Father worked as a train post officer and was a very active member of the Sokol movement and a Czechoslovakian gymnastics representative. As a Sokol member the father of Josef Novotný was engaged in resistance and was hiding parachutes sent from the Great Britain. One of them, probably Josef Valčík, was hiding in their cottage in Křesetice. The family was not revealed and survived the war. During the post-war period Josef Novotný studied technics at the Czech Technical University in Prague and since 1960 until retirement he worked in ČKD. His father joined the communist party and became an OSN ambassador for post organisation. Josef Novotný died on 18 October 2018.
