Jiřina Růžičková

“[Q: And what about your family?] Well, our family... We didn’t have an agricultural cooperative here in Holyně, the last village of Prague-South District, that was when we were still Prague-South. Well, and then, I don’t know if someone snitched on us, or who sent them, but this one night we were woken up by stetsecs [State Security officers - trans.], who started inspecting our house. We had troubles with our hens that year, they were harassed by skunks, which tired them out, and Mum had difficulties fulfilling the supply quota they’d imposed on us. Well, but her sister from Mount Říp or thereabouts had married off to another farm and had enough eggs. So we’d go to her for eggs and take them back, so the number of eggs she was to deliver, she had those from her sister, who helped her with it. Well, but they came in the night just before the collector came for the eggs, so we had some three hundred eggs there, two full laundry baskets, and we hadn’t fulfilled the plan! So we were exploiting the working class, robbing them of their food.”