František Antl

I have an unpleasant experience of monetary reform in 1953. Since grandparents were naturally saving up. They did not have much, but they had some savings. And the money fell .. And it changed one to fifty in those days. Some small amount changed one to five, and the rest one to fifty. It was a total devaluation of life savings. All insurance money fell, everything got completely stuffed. They impoverished people completely. In the stream, in the river there floated thousand crowns, people threw them through the window because the banknotes were worthless. So grandfather took those exchanged money, all that were left. And he bought woollen coat for grandma. Because she used to go to the church, so he wanted her not to be cold. And he bought a watch to me, rectangle-shaped, so ugly. I would never take such watch. It was Russian watch brand "Zvjezda". I wore them up to war. A he bought the watch brand Spartak for himself. That was a Czech production, the very first Prims watch. And all money were gone. Grandparent´s life savings got stuffed. I know that the grandfather was shattered because of it, although they had nothing so they did not loose anything.

When there was war, Prostejov was liberated by Romanians, but Russians were throwing the bombs. And those bombs really fell there into that factory. Not only into the malt house but also into the village near. Because there were three airports in Prostejov. So there fell a lot of bombs, I remember it well. There lived two families in our house. We lived downstairs and there also lived the Dvorsk family in the house. Milena Dvorská, that actress. She had still had a sister Hanka and a brother Evžen. We used to go to the basement under the malt house, under the factory. In the place where barley used to be dried. It was about two stories under the ground. There we went to sleep. And since the raids did not end, we went to the basement. There was a big basement under our house we in which led plenty of stairs. There were bunk bed grandfather made. And when the alarm was raised, we slept there. Grandma equipped the room with duvets and blankets. Although the basement was damp and cold, we slept there until morning. So we did not have to go back up at night. Especially since we did not know how it all turns out. They bombed one house at our factory. It fell down. In the village Vrahovice which sided with the factory, they were also victims. The bombs were falling tthere and I can hear the sound till today. And the sirens too.