Helena Mastná

* 1930

  • „That the Russians appeared there. They just came in trucks and where they got, they stayed. We just had to agree that they made a kitchen there and cooked there. And we were already learning Russian back then. Well, they simply dictated the rules - when they saw a nice horse, they said: 'We'll take that.' A few of them had several watches on their hands, because it was something they didn't know.“

  • “Well, it was terrible, because they thought my dad had too big a farm, so they decided to evict us. But they didn't succeed as everyone else... Our dad helped people a lot when they needed it. For example, with a cow to calve, to have a calf and it didn't work, so he went to help them. And he tried to help everywhere, so the people said: 'He didn't hurt us, so we won't move him.' And they didn't sign it. Well, I got married after that, so I couldn't observe the situation around there anymore.“

  • "Nobody wanted to go there voluntarily, so they took all of dad's machines he had, that is a self-loader, a turner and a tractor, and left it all to rust somewhere in the rain, and dad had to work with pitchforks and rakes by himself. All the workers who were with us were recalled somewhere else, so we had to do everything ourselves. And especially my little brother, he worked same as an adult from the age of 14."

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    Plzeň , 13.05.2021

    (audio)
    délka: 28:46
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu The Stories of Our Neigbours
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Dad‘s machines were left to rust in the rain

as a young girl
as a young girl
zdroj: archiv pamětnice

Helena Mastná was born on June 9, 1930 in Hůrky near Lišov. The family owned a farm in the village. After elementary school, she worked at home on the farm and after her marriage in 1949, she moved to Pilsen, where her two children were born. Her father refused to join the local unified agricultural cooperative (JZD). The Communists confiscated his machinery and forbade workers to work on his farm. The family was supposed to be evicted from Hůrky, but the local people stood up for the popular farmer. The witness worked as a baker.