František Vlk

“That's why we found ourselves in Budějovice, because my parents farmed in Křídlovice, they only owned six hectares, which was nothing at all. Well, but they were called kulaks and enemies of socialism. Well, they were constantly increasing the supply rate of various commodities, basically unfulfillable. Every year the fields area changed, that means they were further and further away from the house. Now we only had cowhide. We did not have horses or any mechanization; it did not exist back then. So before my father drove to a field over there with those cows, which was a kilometre long, sandy, barren and so on. It is just that these kinds of problems were constant. So my mother fell ill with pulmonary tuberculosis, she was first taken to the hospital, then in the sanatorium. And the father was essentially left alone to farm. He had an old mother, she moved in with us. We were three children; I was the oldest. Well, I was, I do not know, nine years old at the time, and when my mother got sick, I had to go to school, of course. And when I came home from school, my grandmother cooked something, gave it to me, and I rushed to the field to bring my father some food, because he couldn't come back for lunch because it was so far away, so he was basically there all day.”

"When I was eleven years old, when we came here to Budějovice, the elections were sometime in November, so I don't remember exactly when. Well, my father's parents and mother, my grandmother, so they did not have to take part in the elections, so they left. The grandmother went to her daughter over there in Slovácko, the parents also got lost somewhere, and we children were alone at home. Well, and now the election commission came with a shoebox, since ours didn't turn up for the elections, not even granny, so they tried to make sure there was a 100% turnout. So about three guys came to us and now where are the parents and our granny. I'll say: 'They're not at home, they're gone somewhere.' And unfortunately, there were the voting sheets behind the table. Now one saw it, now he pulled it out, put it in my hand and wanted me to throw it in that box. I refused, so he slapped me, which worked, so I threw it in the box. Well, that's why I voted for three people when I was eleven years old, so that's an example of communist leadership."