Růžena Šorejsová

“When I had to go to the state farm, then looking back at it, I had three children to take care of, still I have to admit that it suited me fine. If they let me work in a kind of a factory, I´d not be too happy getting up past 5 o'clock every day to get to work... Our work began at seven o'clock and I could go to my children´s class meeting, when necessary or when they needed a doctor, had a toothache or alike… Or when it was raining, we could not go to the field for a week, so I managed everything at home. I did the washing and cleaned the windows and more. But when there was much work, it was even on Saturdays and Sundays. We were in the field on Easter, no celebrations, just in the field. I just never made excuses, no absences, but I did not try to stay more at home because we simply needed the money.”

“In 1989 we did not know what was going on, and I was specifically at the shop next to the grocery store, next to the Hrozen hotel. And all of a sudden, here came the Pragers putting their revolutionary posters up in the shop. Now we did not know what was going on, we were afraid of something like that... Next to us was a man, what was it called? In the shop, we still say hello today, when we meet, he worked in the food section, he was tall, so we both used to sweep the walkways together, no one else did, when it was cold, so we always scratch the ice on the sidewalk. Suddenly he had the posters up and we did too. Now we were looking at it, he did and his wife too, he a tall guy, surely they are still alive, as back then they were young. So we tore it off. We were afraid what it was, what was coming and what was going to happen to us. Only later there were news and all. Then I remember it was terribly cold in the winter, when we were in the square as we walked into the club, so there was a gathering, also the doctor called Rakouská made a speech, she was up on stage, so we were just listening for a while. And there was a snack shop at the top, where the food store is now, so there was snack shop selling a kind of refreshment goods.”