Before the war, Czechoslovakia was much more economically advanced than Austria
Johann Vater was born on the 28th of May in 1930 at the family farm in Predetschlag, a community that lies near the Upper Austrian Freistadt, about three kilometres away from the Austrian-Czech borders. The witness spent all his life in the place where he was born, he witnessed its changes through time. Johann attended basic school in Windhaag. During the WWII, he joined the Hitlerjugend which was obligatory at that time. He remembers the Red Army stationed in Upper Austria. After he finished the basic school, he started to work in the family farm with his parents and gradually, he took over. In 2020, Johann Vater lived in Predetschlag, having handed the family farm to his descendants.