Bohumil Benák

“There was no school (in Lipovec – editor´s note), we used to go to school in Daruvar, that was nothing. And half smaller than Lipovec. There was no employment anywhere, everyone was farming. We had two or three cows and a bit of field. We worked on it using horses, it was a heavy labour. Farmer´s life was difficult, there was nothing to sell, well hard to sell as there was too little money in circulation. And there were taxes, we had to pay them obligatorily and if not, they came and took your cow to sell it.” Interviewer: “Was Lipovec any different from other villages, when Czech were here?” – “I believe that Lipovec was quite advance in comparison to other villages. It was not the only totally Czech village; let’s say Končenice and Brestov and Dežanovec, but all those had a bit higher level than those with no Czechs at all. You learnt about it in everything, that we are a hard-working nation. The Czechs used to buy farming machines from Bohemia, which they needed here, as there were only very few to work with. And also our Czech children they all went to school, either Czech or Croatian and were always a bit more advanced. And as they were ahead, adults were likewise.”

“I was a kid at the Vaculíks (during a trip in 1947 near Lovosice – editor´s note) and then, when I was with my brother-in-law, we improved contacts with the family again and visited them there. So we agreed with Milan to come here. There was a wedding here at our neighbours and there was already so much tension in Bohemia with the Russian tanks, and we didn’t even think they´d come here. We were coming from the town and met a Czech car. I waited on there here at the gate and there were mine… They had a Czech flag with black ribbon on their car. So we understood everything.“ Interviewer: “And did they return back home then?” – „Yes, they did. Some of our hotels were accommodating those people for free, before the tension decreased. They were coming back, but some of them went to Austria or Italy and not Bohemia.” Interviewer: “What did you think was actually happening here? Did it bother you at all?” – “It did a lot as we knew it got better here and worsened at yours. I mattered for sure – why would a nation be dependant at another so much, so helpless and obedient, we talk about the Russians. Why could the Czechs not have their own government without any other country interests? It bothered us a lot. Independent Czechoslovakia means a lot to us.”