Samuel Machek

“We were walking through Mezibranská Street down towards the Museum on 9 May, at about eight or nine in the morning. There are lamp posts to the right of the Museum, there is a street to the left of it, and there was this raised road lane; I don’t know if it’s still there. Soviet tanks were parked there at the time. We saw something happening by the lamp posts, with people gathering, so we walked closer. There was some smoke. We saw some people tied to the posts, so we asked some questions. People said those were SS men. They were burning them to death. We watched it till the end. They got diesel fuel from the Russian soldiers. It smoked. If they lit them using petrol, they would burn quickly. It took some time because Soviet tanks run on diesel, not on petrol. Nazis’ tanks ran on petrol, but Russian ones ran on diesel. So, they burned them to death. We watched till the end; we were curious. When they burned them to crisps, some people took them away. There was a water pool where the park is now, and they threw the remains of the four or five people, alleged SS men, into that pool.”

“I remember this clearly. When the Nazis came, we were standing in the street and they were driving up Žitná Street. I remember it clearly; it was a one-way street then and the German columns were moving from Karlovo Square. We were standing on the corner and people cursed, cried, clenched fists and so on. They drove in military KDW trucks and motorcycles with sidecars. Large columns. Brother and I were in the street. I have to admit, the Germans treated us quite politely later on. We were blond and blue-eyed at the time, and they gave us candy a few times – maybe we reminded them of their children. That was when the Germans came to Prague. They were rank-and-file Wehrmacht soldiers – not SS men. They were family men, ordinary soldiers.”