Miroslava Galásková

"We had two shifts there, a day shift and an afternoon shift. We had hens there that were for breeding. The eggs were taken to Opava and hatched into chicks for broiler breeding. There were over 15,000 hens. So we had a lot to do. There wasn't much mechanisation at the beginning and then they introduced feeding belts and the work was easier. Otherwise, everything was done by buckets, by hand. Then they built towers where the mixes were weighed in and it was conveyed by belt among the hens. We only collected the eggs by hand and had to clean them and put them in containers. Twice a week they would come from Opava to collect them and hatch the broilers from them." - "How many eggs did you collect, say, in a day?" - "Eight or nine thousand in a day. Even twelve thousand. That was the biggest brood."

"That was just on May 9th, I remember them coming. I was just in the yard. Mostly I was experiencing life outside. Two gentlemen in these long black coats. When I watched German movies as a kid, they looked like Gestapo. They also wore similair black suits. And they asked whether my father was home and they'd come over and he'd have to show them everything. He had another room, a separate room. There he had his papers and documents and everything, like an office. They told him to show everything, all the documentation, if he had papers for everything. So he took them there, and I was thrown out. Like a curious kid, they didn't want me there. And it was long enough. Mom was getting nervous. Pepi [brother] was little, he was two years old. And she was waiting to see what was going to happen. When they came out, they went into the bedroom, they checked everything, opened the cupboards. Then they said, 'Well, Mr. Mikus, get dressed and come with us!'"