Bohumil Řehák

“I was in Prague. I went after those ... As the demonstrations were, I attended them all. I was happy that the Bolshevik rule would end. You can't imagine what it was for us - what a relief. Although at that time, we had already escaped from the pursuit, because in Mototechna we could hide away all right. There was no such thing as anyone reproaching me as a class enemy. Naturally, we were about to get out property returned. Because I was aware of how my father had suffered for the fact that our family of Řeháks had lived on that native farm for centuries. And that he had to leave it! So I knew I couldn't betray it. That I had to go back, even if it was in such a bad condition.”

“They said: 'Yeah, but you didn't take any feed! You stole the feed for the poultry! ‘ Naturally, Dad resisted it. But it turned out so. And the wife, when she learned this, she went to the farm, the headquarters, and asked them what they do to my parents? And they said to her: 'Oh please, for we are very satisfied with them. After all, the productivity is so high there that it is nowhere higher! Stay calm, nothing can happen ‘Of course, what happened was that they forced the farm attorney to sue my father. And my father was convicted. And he was locked up in prison again.”

“Mototechna actually provided me a hideaway. When I came back from PTP, sick with my eyes, I tried to get (employed) somewhere. But when I came to work, they said to me: 'Yeah, you are a young person and we need young people.' But when they started asking about family and so on, and they found out that my dad was punished for an act of sabotage, they soon lost their interest. But in Mototechna it did not matter, because my original neighbour from my birthplace stood up for me. Then they accepted me and I was extremely grateful to Mototechna. And gradually I worked my way up from the assistant worker to the leader of a certain group.”

“My dad absolutely believed, although I myself doubted it was possible to get out of it. But he claimed that nothing could be built on lies and deception. That this must happen. He wrote it in the chronicle that when we came back to Lipany - he said he wouldn't live to see it - so we should come to his grave and hit the stone and say, 'Dad, we're here!'“

“I remember (it) very much, because a friendship in the village was a great thing. Whether it was winter or summer, we had our games. And I like to remember skating for example. As Mrs. Hlavackova taught us how to skate and one girl who skated very well - Evža - so she showed us different exercises on skates. Again in the summer we went swimming. And we always used to come together in that village. We went to the cinema together. And when we grew bigger, we went to live music. But after 1945 - there were several communists who had their children. And of course they were against us - especially against the kids of the gulags.”