Václav Novotný

"My dad was arrested and mum could probably sense what would follow because farmers from the neighbouring villages were already being evicted. From our village, Mr. Říha - a former mayor - was kicked out. They created a state-owned farm. It was just a matter of time before this would affect mum and us five kids. She tried to keep everything running and to provide for us five kids. My grandma, then 77 years old and unable to walk, was also there. On 28 April, we received a call from an agricultural executive. It wasn't the courts to decide, it was the executives. He said: 'Well, madame, tomorrow, a car will come to move you out. You don't have to worry about anything, we will load everything ourselves."

"The family units were being evicted exclusively at the point when the breadwinner was locked up. Then it depended on how old were the kids. Říha's family had a sixteen-year-old, that was still okay. But in our family, the youngest child was still a baby plus there was the elderly grandma. They didn't mind at all to affect us. In short, the farmer had to be locked up because if a removal van came over while he was present, who knows what sort of scenes would occur. That's why it went this way. I know that all the families had their men locked up when the car showed up."