Ladislav Minář

“And we went from Klášterec and there was a hill there. It was in snow and they had just ordinary wheels. They had no back tyres. They had ordinary wheels, wooden rungs provided with metal fittings, and it was hard to go through snow. They had very weak horses so in front of them we had to put some steam under each wagon and help them. We thought that they were going somewhere to Zborov only and then they would go on their own. And he pulled us. We were only slightly dressed. We thought we would be back in a while. We had to go with them all the way to Heřmanice (Horní Heřmanice at Štíty village – author's note), all the way to the hill at Heřmanice. And we could not rebel against them because they could shoot us dead. And then we could go home only from there and the prisoners walked all hungry. It was the time of poverty. And they, there was a barn on the right hand side beyond the hill, we didn't know that. We were glad that we pulled ourselves together and that they let us go home. Later we got to know that they didn't put them in the barn but at the barn where the wind was blowing. The Russian soldiers had to sleep out in the wind but some hid themselves from the wind. So they shot as many of them as possible, the rest was left for the next day. We didn't go with them then, we went back home.”

“Well, they passed through Czech villages. There were tanks that were coming later. A driver had a momentary drowsiness, for example, he hit an electric post and knocked it down. I think they were tired, they went non-stop. The transports went then, when they were on their way home, they went through Zborov. And the first ones, they also had horses and such. They were hunting for food and they wanted some eggs and something to eat in the shop. They already had our money then, such temporary one. Not the original one but they were given some specially issued money for which they normally bought things. It was as valid as our money in our country.”

“There were their three nests across there. Well, I think nobody would have gone along the road unless they filled the area with gas or something. And then nobody came so the soldiers went on Saturday at three o'clock. They had their guns on their shoulders. I carried a gun for one of them. He lent it to me. Then we said good-bye to them. They went to Grulich, to the fort, and we went about our own business. Then the Germans came on Sunday morning. They came and stopped in the village. There was a co-op shop there. The shop assistant had to open. They were hungry. One of them took a fifty-mark note, a red one like a fifty-crown note let's say. And he went to buy some food. He got an armful of bread rolls, a deal of salami and some spirits on top of that. And then he had no idea what to do with it. And he was surprised how cheap it was in our country.”

“They for example took the railway lines apart when they got a tip-off that there was a military train going to come. On the other hand, they had some acquaintances at the railway. We took the railway lines apart in the band at Ruda (Ruda nad Moravou – author's note). Then there came an engine with a train at night and it got out of the lines due to the centrifugal pressure and all went straight into the river.”