Tamara Lenzová

“I stayed in Rivno until the last moment. On Thursday they bombed Rivno and on Friday we went with my younger sister who also worked in Rivno. It was 20 kilometers to our house and we set out and walked the 20 kilometers home on foot. So we came home on Thursday or Friday and on Saturday, the Russians came. It was about 30 kilometers to the Russian border and our mother came in the morning and said: ‘Girls get up, there is some noise coming from there.’ And they were coming with those huge tanks.”

“To avoid the danger, we went to hide at my uncle. I remember, as the Germans were leaving and the Russians advanced, there was gunfire and as I turned around as we were crossing a hill, I saw everything illuminated as it was all on fire. We came to my uncle and there was a pub with a cellar where they stored the beer and they were hiding there. So we hid there as well. The Germans were still there until the morning and then, the Russians already came.”