Markéta Formanová

"When the Russians came, I know they were looking for a watch. Dad had to stand up, put his hands aside, and they looked at him with a gun to see if he had a watch. They said, 'Uri, Uri.' If he didn't have a watch, but it was already known, so he didn't have a watch. And I know there were rape cases with these Russians. The young girls would wear scarves and long skirts to look old. We used to sleep in the room where Ivan used to sleep, so there was a room like that in the attic. So above that room, as the roof is slanted, there's this space. That's where my mother and I slept, and the women from the neighborhood. We slept there because of the Russians. We used to climb up a ladder which we then pulled up and we slept there. The Russians, when they came, they usually had a horse and wagon. My father fried eggs for them, gave them food, and then they looked for women. They said, 'Frau, Frau.' And he said he didn't have any because we were hidden. Because there was no fence, they left the wagon with the horses in the yard. So he fed the horses, fried eggs for them. I think they left."

"Then the displacement actually began. I remember that the people walked because there was a road not far from the house. So they were walking, a procession of people, because they were going through Heřmanice to Krompach to the German border. They were parades, almost endless or long parades. These people were just wearing clothes, some of them even had a bag, but they were just wearing clothes and walking." - "And this was in June or May 1945, for example?" - "I don't know exactly, but just after the end of the war, the displacement started. And I know that they said that by winter, like by autumn we were back. Because they considered this their home, and now that they had to leave, they took it as a necessary evil. I'm sure they didn't believe it would be forever. And actually it was a good thing, because if they had known that, it would have been even harder for them to leave."