Ludmila Levá

“ (The Americans) drove around in Jeeps and we, children, were always given a treat, some chewing gum or something like that. They drove us around our quarter and we were given something every now and then, maybe even some tins, I can't remember any more.”

“It became obvious in 1948 that it wasn't going to be good – with the Communists. They sent my uncle to prison in 1951. They came for him at school (where he taught). Then we were told he fled abroad. The State Security men were searching my aunts' flat (not ours). They kept saying he fled abroad and were trying to pick their brains, however, there was no point.”

“One evening they had a dance party on a street leading into the fields. They parked four cars there and laid out electric cables for the lighting. In this way we had a lighted dance floor close to our house. There was a party in the evening. I had a friend, Vlasta Barcelů - she was called Kotěšová at the time. We were eleven-year-old girls. We climbed up on a car and watched the (American) soldiers dance with the young ladies. That was quite something for us. And my poor parents looked for me. I don’t know what happened to Vlasta, but I received the one big beating of my life from my dad.”

“A lot of important things for our family came about in 1953. It was on June 1st , the currency, you know, when the disorder began. My Dad was on strike with some other fellows from the Škoda factory. Luckily he wasn't imprisoned right away. But he was fired.”

“They moved both aunts out to a parish house in Potvorov in December 1952. Granddad died in the meantime. They let them choose out of three parish houses – one better than another one, in inverted commas. But my aunts went for the one in Potvorov because there was a church just next to it. There was no water in the house at that time and the electricity was in a very poor state. They were moved there in winter, by a military car. The walls were stone (which means it was terribly cold). When my aunt heated one, 2 x 3 meter room, it could reach about 24 °C . But in the adjacent room the temperature was 0 °C.”