“They were solid people, the Germans, very decent. I was lucky enough to get in touch with intelligent people. Although they were both…. They were two bosses, brothers, although they were both members of the party (probably SdP – author´s note.). But why? They had a factory in Radčice. There is a factory, which is still standing; they produce something else nowadays. The firm Jakob (back then – author´s note). They used to make men´s suit cloths. Yet really nice ones. The bosses were at the party, as if they were not, then they´d not be making any woollen cloths but uniforms and army covers. And they´d have to fire many people. Well so they joined the party. But I never experienced, that if I came back from lunch and met them, they never greeted me Heil Hitler, not once. Not even employees. Guten Tag, just have a good day, in a normal fashion. They were really intelligent people. That´s how it was. It is all in the people. The biggest dorks did all the big hassle. These were intelligent people. They knew well it is all wrong, but what else could they have done, when they didn’t want to see the factory closed and people fired!”
Interviewer: “How did you get along with the Germans? Was there (in Desná – author´s note) at the end of 1920s and beginning of 1930s…?“ – „Excellently! I can tell you, it was excellent! As there were all old people, denizens in the old wooden houses and cottages. As my father was a postman and got in daily contact with them, he knew them all well. And I have to say, it was great. When we were displaced in 1938 and moving out, our neighbour was crying: ‚Mrs. Lukš, we got along so well, so why are you leaving?‘ Well we had to, the post office was transferred to Nová Paka… We really got along very well, with the children too. As I said they were mostly old people. But whent the nasty young boys came, all went wrong. As they were going to Hirschberg (Jelenia Góra in Poland – author´s note), on Saturdays, Sundays and were taught how to treat Czechs. They used to ride their bikes there.”
Interviewer: “So the young boys living in Desná were riding…?“ – “That was the base of the German freaks! Those old people didn’t care. They just wanted to have a full mouth. They have been living in the old houses since they were born. No politics mattered to them! But their children and grandchildren…. Well that was pretty…”
“In Pustiny there was a certain baker Swarowsky and his wife was Czech. They had two boys, Helmut and Herbert. The boys were quite good, up to a certain moment. Herbert was terribly smart and a good boy too. Granny liked him a lot. It was all fine until Henlein. They used to go to Hirschberg (todays Jelenia Góra in Poland – author´s note) and were taught, how Germans should treat Czechs there. Imagine, that the boys were so manipulated that they accused their own mother of being Czech. They were seventeen or eighteen years old. And their sister was over twenty, she was married and lived elsewhere. They began to accuse their mother… and she hanged herself then. At the stable Mrs. Swarowská hanged herself. Then the Germans made in Příchovice all the way to the cemetery, where they buried her. Her coffin was in the church on display. And now the há-jóts came (Hitlerjugend members – author´s note) and marched to the coffin. And the priest, what was his name? Nevermind, well he chucked them out of the church. He told them, I don’t remember now, he was not originally Czech, though he came from here, but was German, of a small figure. He told them, the place was of god and it was only in purpose of holy masses and no politics belong there. And off they went! I wonder he was not arrested or somehow… He was such a discreet man, Kolman was his name, and his grave is there too. Well and those were the boys, who used to play with us and then got totally manipulated and we were not good anymore: ‚Got off them!‘ I tell you something, it was all mostly due to the young people, who grew up with Nazism. Politics never mattered much to the older ones, at least those living in the mountains. They only care to eat and…”
Marie Zubíková, née Lukšová, was born on 8 December, 1921 in a village of Poniklá, region Semily. At the age of five she moved with her parents to Desná. There she experienced a happy childhood, good relations with German denizens, but also a growing hatred of young fanatic Hitler fans. After Munich 1938 she moved with her parents and two siblings to Nová Paka. In 1940 she graduated at the commerce academy in Turnov and moved to work in Liberec. There she worked until the end of war in two German textile factories. In the first one, Kleinmünchner Baumwolle Gesellschaft, she worked as a clerk for two years and in the other, in a company Jakob, worked in accountings. She has a lot of memories of war times in Liberec, especially an experience with German colleagues and superiors in both factories. In 1946 she married Oldřich Zubík. After maternity leave she began working in the Regional Association of the Consumer Cooperatives (KSSD) in Liberec as the head of planning department. The company was meant to go bankrupt, so she left after three years and began working as an economist in the City stadium of Liberec. After about two or three years she came back to KSSD in Liberec. There she worked until 1978, when she retired. She has two daughters, Helena and Zuzan. In 2016 she´s lived in Liberec.
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