Marie Urbanová

"My classmate lived across the street, but since my parents didn't like us being together, she wasn't supposed to come to us and I wasn't supposed to come to them... The point of contact was the Bednář family because nobody could say anything against them. We used to meet our classmates here. Mr. Bednář was very kind to us. He went for walks with us, taught about nature, the surroundings; there were walks every day. Later, Mr. Bednář taught me French. They had a piano and I could learn to play the piano. So, what I didn't have at home - and I didn't have grandparents - I got from the Bednářs. I owe them for what I am."

"The national committee summoned my father for questioning in the 1950s on the pretext of maintaining contact with capitalist foreign countries. Those were his wife's three uncles who had gone to Argentina for work. My father helped all his relatives and acquaintances. He was handy with everything he did. Repaired the house, helped his relatives. He rebuilt his own house, built his own planer, his own grinder, his own car trailer - he knew how to do everything. Everybody he knew could ask something from him, and most of the time the reward didn't even cover the material cost. My father was never a member of any political party, and since this is how he was treated in Křemže, it was a given he didn't vote in any elections. He didn't vote, not even in one election. All this treatment and the injustice took a toll on his health. When I was graduating that year, it was the first stroke. Then diabetes, and he died in 1977. You could say that the bullying and the lifetime of hard work also took a toll on his health."