Helena Šebestová

“I was standing in Národní Street and one man said: ‘Well, Gottwald has surely scored a failure today like never before.’ A guy with a badge approached him and said: ‘Show me your ID.’ The people around knew he was a secret policeman, so they circled him and the man escaped.”

“President Zápotocký repeatedly stated that our currency was strong. Then the currency reform hit the next day. The rate was 1:50 and I think 1:5 for amounts of up to 500; I don’t remember exactly. It was horrible, [people got] just a few pennies. People were robbed. And miners? My husband worked at the Šalamouna mine that was part of the Hlubina, which was close. You could see it if you took a tram towards the Frýdlant train station. I saw the miners on strike. The memory still gives me chills to this day. It was quiet. Light. A mine full of people, silent, and this anxiety in the air. We all lost money, anyone who had any. The currency reform was terrible.”

“On the fifth of May at seven in the morning, I remember it was a Saturday, we opened the window and heard some screaming. A local boy was riding a bicycle and calling: ‘Get the flags out, we’re free!’ He was wearing a tricolour and riding the bike. When he was riding back towards Troják, the Nazis shot him. That was it. As I said, my brother [Jan] captured 40 Nazis in the hollow during liberation.”

“One night, about four partisans came to the Troják [tourist lodge], and it was raining. They hanged their ammunition belts on the stove to dry. There is this little kitchen behind the pub. At daybreak, Nazis were banging at the door, saying they saw muddy footprints and so there must be partisans inside. My grandmother saved everyone. She said, ‘Gentlemen, there is nobody here.’ There was a cellar behind the kitchen, under a wooden floor lid. The partisans threw the ammunition in and then they hid in there. They put the lid on and aunt or uncle put a large pot on the lid. The Nazis searched the entire Troják; by then, an annex had been added, so it was quite large. There were beer cellars accessible from the corridor, and a loft and rooms upstairs. They searched it all but found no one. In fact, my grandmother saved the house from being burned to the ground.”