Marie Suchánková

* 1928

  • "On October 14, 1944, a plane crashed; it made an attempt for emergency landing somewhere, but it didn't succeed. So it landed there, and immediately the Germans, the Gestapo were there and shot both of the pilots. They put them in the morgue in the cemetery, and we children were still watching. One was black and one had white skin. We were peeking in there, they were sitting on top of each other. I was also a part of it. They were buried in our cemetery, it was full of flowers every day. Then they were moved under the church, where there they were buried again."

  • “About fourteen days before the end of the war, we had to free the town hall to the district governor of Uherské Hradiště. I believe his name was Dr. Fajke. He was German. Along with others he was running to escape the front. They moved from Hradiště to us and stayed in our town hall for more than a week. When we came to the town hall after the war, we found an unimaginable havoc in the mayor's office. The ground was full of broken glass. Everywhere laid small eagles torn off their uniforms. I've never seen such a chaos. We were all employees there and we started cleaning it up. And the secretary Lablena said, 'Where did I just put that picture of President Benes?' We finally found it in our frame in the meeting room. But it was covered with Hitler´s picture all throughout the war.”

  • "Daddy came at three o'clock in the morning and laid down on the bed in the kitchen and said, 'So I signed it, because they told me it might happen that Jarek wouldn't even graduate.' Back then everything was paid for and the school was a burden for our parents. And they had to pay the costs of living in Vsetin monthly. And now it should all be wasted? That was the first time I saw Dad cry. His tears were flowing. We haven´t slept anymore. My dad had always done everything honestly. When we farmed ourselves, they gave us a different field each year. That meant clearing the field, picking stones to allow anything growing. And next year we had to do the same again. That way they tormented people to join the agricultural cooperative.”

  • “Their bodies [American pilots] were put in the morgue at the cemetery. And we as kids were looking in there later in the evening. One was black, the other one white. They were lying there on the autopsy tables. And we peered, put each other up on our shoulders. I also participated. Our boys then flew all the way to America [the field where the bomber landed]. And our neighbour, Jenda Krčmář, took pictures and we then brought it up together.”

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    ve Zlíně, 16.10.2018

    (audio)
    délka: 03:19:14
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

Good family is the most important at any time.

Marie Suchánková / about 1945
Marie Suchánková / about 1945
zdroj: archiv Marie Suchánkové

Marie Suchánková, née Karasová, was born on 8 February 1928 in Topolná in the district of Uherské Hradiště. She grew up in Napajedla. Her father was a shoemaker and at the same time managed a farm with two hectares of fields. In October 1944, she witnessed the events associated with the shooting of two American pilots who crash-landed at Napajedla. She experienced the liberation of the city by the Romanian troops in May 1945. Her father, an active member of the Sokol and Christian Democrats, was forced to join a single agricultural cooperative under pressure after a communist coup. Mary attended schools run by the Order of the Sisters of the Holy Cross. Since 1944 she was employed at the town hall in Napajedla. After the war, she became a member of the restored Sokol. She had two children. Since the 1960s she worked in the office of the Napajedla specialized school. He´s lived in Napajedla until today.