Eliška Kopřivová

"They gave him (editor´s note: husband) a mining locomotive. There were all prisoners there, so there was no change at all. There were stones with sharp spikes on the walls, perhaps right down to the locomotive. At one point my husband leaned in on the locomotive, somebody needed something, and at that moment one of those spikes caught him. The locomotive went on, and the husband rotated around the spike. As soon as the locomotive stopped, he fell down to the ground. I always relaxed with him. His smile and his encouragement inspired me. He did not consider himself to be important, he did what he could for others. I was surprised that there was still someone to tell what I really meant. Because in the 1950s what we were saying was also monitored. We (in the hospital in contact with patients) have been ordered to say nothing about how we were, what we were."

"It's bothering me a bit (the current political situation with a stronger influence from the communists - editor´s note), Even though I say I can not do anything anymore, I'm just like to finish living. But I do mind that it's coming back. It is not possible! It is time for one to think about what we have survived. Suddenly, there is another thought. It's like the people's thinking was any different. Why is it? That people are doing well, all the way. They can say anything that we were not allowed at the time. It's from the excuberance... I do not know what of."