Josef Bílý

"There was a working place in Heřmanice. English prisoners were making regulation of the local creek. We were wondering why. We used to go to school right next to this place. In the morning they came to work tidy and clean, with cigarettes. They were not allowed to give each other even used cigarette. And as the "Hair men" - as they were called - were walking by and falling from starvation on the ground, we couldn´t give them even a cigarette. We all were humans. It doesn´t matter if you´re Czech or Moravian or Russian or American."

"On June 10th I was returning home. My mom went straight home as I found out later. I arrived to Lanškroun by train. There was a nice commander in Rudoltice village and he was trying to get me a taxi from there. Anyway I walked from Lanškroun to Heřmanice village at the end. As I reached Laudon (part of Heřmanice - author´s note) I took the old path that I knew, where people used to walk many years ago. Then the shooting began. I told to myself: ´Easy boy, you´re almost home, stay calm.´ That was on June 10th and you could see the Russian soldiers running after Germans from time to time. When I got home I saw four tanks standing there. I walked around them and then I heard: ´Stop right there! ´ - ´What is it? ´ I recognized the voice of my brother in law who married my sister. I kept going. Then again: ´Stop or I will shoot! ´ I stopped and he came to me. We were two hundred meters away from my house. He said: ´If you wouldn´t have stopped I would have had to shoot you. We were all around the tanks and the Russians were watching us. So I would have had to fire at you. Otherwise the other Russian soldier would have shot me. " I return home and my brother-in-law wants to shoot me..."

"We were also digging the ditches for lying and kneeling shooters. That was under supervision. Each of the SS soldiers had a dog with them. We had plenty of such experiences. He (the SS soldier) took his hat off and threw it away. Then he told the prisoner to bring it back. If he didn´t go, he fired on alarm. After that the prisoner got up and went to get the hat. Then the German took his gun and shot him."

"There were cases like this; there was a huge stage facing the machine gun turret. In the morning there was a line up. Some names were read and then we went to that stage. The order was: ´Take the machine gun and shoot them.´ This happened to me. One Gestapo officer came to me and told me: shoot him. He (the prisoner) was begging me: ´Shoot me.´ What shall I do? Should I shoot him? Or I will get shot? What a moments! His head fell down before we could negotiate something. That is why I´m sitting here now. If I wouldn’t shoot him he would have shoot me!"