František Gabčo

“In 1968 I was doing my military service, and I was at the border in full armour. We were assigned to the rocket unit in Klatovy, and we thus served on the front line. Russians were hundred metres away from us, and we were on the other side. This is what happened: We were fully armed, with four or eight magazines, a machine-gun and what not. I thought: ‘Why do we carry all this when we are not allowed to use it?’ The day after I was disarmed and they issued only empty magazines to me, because they feared that I might cause some trouble. The weather was nasty, it was cold and it was raining. So yes, we had a good time at the border. We had no idea what was happening in the cities. We didn’t know that there were tanks there. The troop commander only informed us that a protest demonstration was taking place in the town, but we didn’t receive any other information. They only told us: ‘Be here and watch out!’ After two weeks we left our posts and we returned to the barracks and there was a party with Russian soldiers. They came to our barracks and they were talking with us and celebrating. But it was only for the invited, for their supporters. Those who were like me were not allowed to join them. About two months later we were released from the army service and we became civilians again. We served some extra time and then they allowed us to leave the army.”

“My two older brothers lived in Přebuz for a while. We experienced the deportation of Germans who lived there. They left their houses there and they went away only with their backpacks. It was terrible for them, because they had to abandon everything and leave. I have to say that they were immensely kind and they liked to have fun. They used to go to a little pub which was also regularly frequented by soldiers from the customs house in Rolava, who were coming there on Saturdays. There was music and merriment in the pub. I enjoyed being among them a lot; they were the kind of people that you can talk to. When they were leaving, they were really unhappy about it and they offered their houses to us to buy them. Almost all the people from Přebuz left at once. It all happened quickly and the village became empty in a short time. People from Přebuz lived like one large family. They used to get together, dances were organized, and there was fun. I really liked it there. One of the reasons they liked to talk to us was that there were not many people to have fun with, and they saw that we liked to have a good time, too. Every time when we were walking to the pub, we were singing and they liked to listen to us. Eventually only few of us remained there. The school was closed down and children then had to commute to Rotava. The village gradually became depopulated. The houses were bought by people from Kladno, who were going there only on weekends. I think that Přebuz begins to get a bit lively again as more people now live there. New people are coming. They are not Germans, but our people.”