Dorothea Maria Schweitzer

“On June 13, 1945, three members of our family were interned in the assembly camp in Žatec. Later they moved us to rooms with bunk beds and straw mattresses. Women were assigned as conscripted labour in agriculture. My mom had to dig a latrine together with the other women. There was a large kitchen, and we were getting food one time a day. They took everything from us, including the kitchenware. Mom was unable to remove her earrings quickly, and they tore them from her ears. Her ear was bleeding for several days after that. We received 200 grams of bread. We had no knife. My mom, my younger brother and I had to eat from a tin bowl. I remember the roll calls. We had to pack everything, report in the roll call, and then return to the barracks. We had to report whether we were ill. There were many ill people. Many people were hungry and suffered from diarrhoea. One time, Bohuslav Marek stood next to me and he asked me: ‘Fever?’ ‘No,’ I said. ‘Disease?’ He fired a shot in the air. Then he aimed the gun at me. I felt no fear in that moment.”

“In one small village I saw a young boy, who was about fourteen, and who was wearing leather trousers. His elderly parents were standing next to him. On the order of the train’s commander they were separated and the parents went with us. At that time it was dangerous to wear leather trousers.”

“At the beginning of June, on Sunday, 3rd of June 1945, the Czechs came. Czech soldiers with bayonets stormed into our house, and they shouted ‘hurry, hurry,’ and they began rounding us up. All men aged 13 to 65 years were separated from women, children and the elderly. My father had to go together with the other men. He was not allowed to take anything with him, only what he was wearing. Fortunately, my brother was not wearing leather trousers. He was thirteen years and ten days old at that time. After a roll call, my father and the other men had to march over the Marktplatz (Liberty Square) and Gurkenplatz to the bridge over the Eger River. Those who lagged behind were shot. When they reached the bridge, they were harassed there. The men had to kneel down and those who tried to stand up were shot. Soldiers were shooting above their heads. The men walked all the way to Postoloprty, where they kept them in the old army barracks. They were not given any food for five days. Those who tried to steal something somewhere or to escape were shot. This happened to several young boys who were hungry. My father survived this, he refused medical care. As a member of the wehrmacht, my father was put into a so-called sweat chamber. They tortured them with heat there. They were not given anything to drink. Bohuslav Marek, who later became the commander of the camp in Žatec, was present there. Young wardens could do whatever they wanted to the men, because they were Germans. Dad then got to Saxony in a foot transport via Oberleutensdorf/Horní Litvínov. He was selected for work and thanks to one Czech employer he was then able to write a letter with his current address to us. It was in Czech, of course. Thus we learnt that he was alive. We were scared, because we had heard about the executions of the local German men.”

“I remember the celebration of Hitler’s fiftieth birthday, it was on April 20, 1939. We had to stand next to the window and listen to Hitler’s speech from the radio. It was obligatory for all the employees. A short time after, the director of the sugar refinery in Postoloprty got fired because his wife was Jewish. My father could have taken his place, but he refused it. He said that it was not fair. He was transferred to Žatec/Saaz for that. We moved there with him.”

“My grandparents called my parents and urged them to come from České Meziříčí to Broumov (Braunau). It was probably due to my grandfather’s illness. We travelled to Opočno in the company car, and from there we continued by train. We had to change trains in Náchod. One section of the railroad was closed, and we thus had to walk and then we could ride the train towards Broumov. The reason for closing that part of the railroad beyond Náchod could be that it continued (after some 300 kilometres) towards the German borders. Grandma’s younger brother wanted to avoid the mobilization call, and he thus went into hiding. The occupation of the Sudetenland started afterward and military vehicles were arriving to Broumov. It was for the first time when we, the children, saw soldiers. Grandma decided that we could no longer stay there and that it would be better if we moved towards Silesia. A friend, miller from Otovice near Broumov/Ottendorf bei Braunau, gave us a ride for one part of the journey. We had to undergo a strict check on the border crossing. Then we arrived to the Silesian territory, to the town Neurode (Nová Ruda/ Nowa Ruda).”

“Our next destination was Hermsdorf. Here we were reunited with my twin brother after a long time. We learnt that he had attempted to cross the sector borders (Maltoien), but he had no documents with him and therefore they sent him back to Žatec. A railwayman colleague told him: ‘You are back here, but your parents have already left in the private train together with the remaining German people from Žatec.’ The baker, for example, and other professionals who were considered necessary, have remained in the town. My brother therefore packed a rucksack, which weighted a total of twenty-seven kilograms, and he illegally entered the American sector. He had no documents, and therefore he had to go to Auerraus. Food was scarce there. He remembered the addresses of several of our acquaintances (for example from Pirna) from Germany. Riding the trains he eventually arrived to Hermsdorf via Dresden and Chemnitz. He spent two nights in the camp. He found us thanks to the lists of the deportees. He was thirteen. A Russian officer carried his rucksack over the border for him, and therefore they didn’t search it. It is remarkable that the rail transport was functioning after the war, which is not granted even today.”