"When he took little Venoušek, he was ten years old, so he kind of moved and it took Dad´s breath away. I said, 'Daddy, what is it?' - 'I have broken ribs and it hurts terribly.' So I said, 'Venus, either you can't move or come sit on your lap.' At the first sight Dad had broken nose and scar here. And he often went to the bathroom with the warden, probably bad kidneys. So the poor man said, "Look, kids, I probably wouldn't be needed anymore, pray for me."
"We came, Dad was sitting at the table, of course with a warden. So you know, well, he didn't know anything about us, that we were evicted, or how it turned out for us. He didn't know that at all. So we debated on. About midnight they brought my two little brothers, they ran outside in the cold, so they brought Pepa and Venoušek around midnight. And aunt, uncle and dad's brother - they brought them in at about three o'clock in the morning."
"Two workers in overalls came to the office and they wanted to talk to Dad. I said, 'Daddy's not here.' - ´So lets invite all the workers into one workshop. None of the relatives are allowed there. 'And then the workers told us that the two were working, they just took the floor and said,' Dear comrades, now Mr. Hořejší is no longer the factory owner, now you are workers and who will be against you, SNB is ready.' So that was nationalization. So all the relatives, aunts, cousins, cousins; all went home. And that's how it started."
Růžena Sojková, née Hořejší, was born on December 10, 1932 in Mělník. Her father, Josef Hořejší, founded and ran a pram factory, which was nationalized in 1948. Josef was arrested for some time during the nationalization. In 1949, Josef Hořejší co-founded the resistance group MAPAŽ (Masaryk-Palacký-Žižka). He fled abroad before his arrest, but returned to his family a few months later. In August 1949, Josef Hořejší was arrested and the family was evicted from their home. On January 7, 1950, Josef Hořejší was executed. Růžena and her family spent the last night with him before his execution. The witness and her siblings then found it difficult to find employment at school and at work with the brand of children of the regime’s enemies.
