Bachelor Jaromír Navrátil

“Hundreds of bombers were coming back one day and they were dropping their unused bombs on some buildings. They noticed that we had a transformer which supplied our factory with electricity. At that time we were taking a break up on a hill and we wished that they would drop something on the factory. When the bombs started falling down, they were making whistling sound. We got scared that they were actually bombing us, but they were targeting the transformer. When the bombing was over, I was curious and I went there to see the place. There were craters around the transformer, but the transformer itself stayed intact. We thus lost our hope that we would get a day off.”

“He told me a password and I identified myself with this password to one man in Prachatice. This man himself wanted to stay safe, and he brusquely asked me what I wanted from him. But then he came to meet me on a motorcycle and he took me right to the border line in the Šumava Mountains. There were German smugglers who were smuggling our cigarettes which could be easily exchanged for food in Germany. They knew Šumava thoroughly. I asked them if I could join them. They said no problem, and they only asked me if I had any weapon. In case we would run into a policeman, for example, they would defend themselves. They had revolvers. I told them that I did not want to shoot anybody; I just wanted to get over the border. There were several of us. Some lady was walking in front of me. It was raining and it was pitch dark and several times I nearly got lost. We walked in a line and sometimes I saw the last person in front of me, and sometimes not, and sometimes I could only hear a twig crack under her feet. I said to this lady that I was afraid that I would lose them. She promptly took out her scarf, she tied one end around her finger and I tied the other end to my finger. We spent the whole night crossing the border and we kept walking until we reached Freyung.”