Marie Dudová

"But once they remembered when they saw... We had two ponds there. And the frogs were croaking. So they remembered that they liked frog legs. And so they set off for frog legs. We children, schoolchildren, we got oil lamps, lamps - I don't know if you remember those. They used to be attached to vehicles so that they could be used for lighting. They still sell oil lamps today, they are similar, and in the past, we used them for lighting the house. Well, we all got an oil lamp and had to walk on the dam to make the frogs retreat. And they hunted the frogs. As I say, they were fun. Well, in contrast to what we experienced with the Germans, it was different with the Americans."

“Then one day, the bigger guys [from Organization Todt] came and wanted bikes. And we didn't know what was happening. The Vlasovs were already gone, and these were still there - the Germans. And they wanted bikes. They must have thought, fools, that they would get away. But it was all cleaned up. The deputies cleaned everything up. It was buried in the hay. But my grandfather was a good man and showed them all kinds of machine parts in the granary, and there was also a bicycle frame. So he showed them. And he, the German, told him that if he didn't fix the bike by lunchtime so that he could leave, he would shoot him. That they will shoot our whole family. So my parents agreed to take out one repaired bike. But it was sometime before noon - I don't remember it in detail because I was a little girl. Suddenly someone came running and shouted, 'There are Americans in Velhartice!' So they wanted to run away from the Americans."