Matěj Komosný

“Only then the front began so close from here, just near the Slovak border. And we dug trenches in our garden, I had three more siblings. We had two trenches, I was with the youngest brother František. All of the sudden it began to whistle. At we corner we had a cherry tree. Suddenly there was a sound up in the tree. Russians had small airplanes and watched us digging trenches. They reported the Germans are hiding in there. So they pointed their canons at us. I was quite used to it from Germany, so I didn’t fear much. Well of course, everyone fears, that is only human, but you get over it. I lured the youngest one, but the other two were really scared. They kept their heads down shaking. And suddenly something came shooting in and bang; the whole garder full of smoke and next to us a big apiary, lots of black smoke. The two probably ran away and I told the youngest one: ´Franta, we got to crawl out slowly and off to the house.´ So we jumped up crouching. Suddenly there were machine guns shooting above us. Together we immediately fell down and it stopped. They thought they shot us dead. Then we crawled back home. The others were wondering and we just said: ´Well we are alive and kicking.´”

“They established united agricultural cooperative, but no one wanted to join in. So the people without any land went there. Only in time some joined them too and they began forcing those, who went to work and had some land too, those were forced to sign. They kept approaching me to sign. So I said I was no communist and will never be as I go to church and will never denounce my faith whatever they try to do to me. As I said that, I became the black sheep of the factory. I got employed for smaller salary. The ones who joined the party got twenty percent more on top of those, who were not. When I didn’t want to succumb, the director called me and there was a guy who recruited people to agricultural coop. ´You sign, and if not, you go to the director.´ He was in charge of that, and did nothing else, only that for a great salary. All right, so I go to the director. I went four times. Then I got stomach ulcers and got ill, so stayed home and then an employee from the national committee came to us and said: ‚Matěj, you need to come to the office.‘ So I went to the national committee office and there were plenty of men from Hodonín central communist party, then the secretaries of the communist party, then people from our town hall, about eight of them. One after another they shouted at me. And I kept saying no. But there was little to do, they shouted too strong. I said: ´All right then, you cried to much so give me the paper to sign.‚´ They gave me the paper and I said I would not sign. ‚No? Here is the paper you asked for yourself.‘ ´Yeah, but I will not sign.´´Ok, so we fire you from your job and you will have to deliver so much supply from your farm produce you will never be able to fulfil.´And I replied: ‚You cannot do that, the rations are set by the law. You cannot change that.´ ´Well we can do anything, we are the party.”