Marie Zykmundová

“They had to stay in that certain residence in that Zlatá Olešnica for the reason that they were forbidden to actually return to that original residence, nor could they go to visit, or simply nothing. They had to stay only in Zlatá Olešnica. After some time, my mother wrote a letter to the president of the district national committee asking if it would be possible for them to move in with their family. This was granted to them, so they moved in and for the following years they moved around the district borders, they could not, were not allowed to go back inside and worked in different villages as cattle feeders. Then again, my mother wrote to the President of the Republic, at that time it was President Zápotocký, asking if he would allow them to visit their family in that forbidden district. So that was granted, so it was a certain relief for them after all.”

“However, he was only in the unified agricultural cooperative until the second day, and the local communist party organization asserted that the father was taken away by the State Security and he was convicted. And actually, all the property was confiscated. Even before that, he gave half of the farm to his mother, half of which theoretically remained to her, but her half was confiscated as well. The father also had to pay a rather large fine. He was judged. Originally, the local communist organization demanded that a so-called monster trial be organized in the square, where the gulags were judged with the participation of the general public. In the end, it all happened in the courthouse.”