Marie Ustohalová

"Well, we had trouble. After the loyalty check he was told there was no place for him in the party. But we supported the Soviet Union then and were close to the communists. So we were disappointed. There was also the trouble with the studies – our neighbour told us directly that if people were not in the party their children could not go to high school. But my husband took no notice of what he said. He was not in the party but he had no enemies and he did what the party needed: they asked him to be a librarian so he did it for free. We started a music school so the children here did not have to go to Břeclav. We cleaned the building with our hands. They needed my husband in the cultural field so we had no trouble. But it was worse when our children finished school. "

Anybody who was interested in history knew that he and Masaryk were the first who built the country. He was a wonderful politician. He published beautiful books. My husband was a teacher and so we had some books by him. We always appreciated President Beneš. Unfortunately, he was an unlucky man. He had good intentions and he sacrificed himself. However, he came to a difficult time – such a difficult time. He suffered from an emotional and nervous breakdown. I know that Prague people resented him and there were some protests and defamatory songs. But the majority of the nation accepted him – he was elected unanimously. There was no protest. We knew that Beneš was able to keep it and we knew bad times were coming. He was very efficient – one of the best politicians. Masaryk had the contacts, but he did not work very much in politics. It was Beneš who worked there. He was excellent.“

"You should have seen the mobilization – it was something the Czech nation cannot do today. How enthusiastic, energetic and fast the young boys were! I had there many friends and they would call me, ´Hi, hi, cross your fingers, support us, help us fight, we are going to fight. I stayed in a hostel for girls and a lot of boys went there to say goodbye. We did the programme in the radio in the evening and when we returned they were there ready to go. We expected that something was about to happen. There was enthusiasm everywhere, and everybody believed we would win. Nobody knew anything about the political background … Well, president Beneš decided – and I have supported him all my life even though many people bitterly criticized him. He couldn't go to war, as the Germans would have destroyed us. We had a good army and our lines were ready, but it was not enough … The people were not ready for such a war and thus we would have ended up like Poland. They would have destroyed us with all our hatred. We hated the Germans quite a bit – there were Germans in Lednice near here and they started to be active. And we, members of Sokol, provoked them: we came there on a wagon and we sang Czech national songs. We did not live in harmony with them. But we did not know about the future and the Henlein's movement in Sudetenland. We were afraid then. But we believed that our soldiers would fight bravely. Unfortunately, it was for nothing and Hitler wanted us to move to South America."

It was a terrible chaos. Nobody knew what to do. Terrible disappointment. Nobody could appreciate Hácha – it is now that we see what a difficult sacrifice it was for him. But it was not possible to do anything else. We knew there was a sword hanging over us – the life of the whole nation was at stake. Not lives of individuals but the life of the whole nation. We would have never recovered from that. Everyone experience it, both in Sokol and in the household. The worst were the traitors. Even here in Podivín. They really didn't need it, but they had brown shirts made and went to Brno to the meetings and they also informed the secret police.