Milena Urbanová

"I was standing by my mother and I said, 'Mom, what are they going to do with us?' My mother replied harshly, 'Ask Dad.' So I shuffled over to my dad, he squeezed me between his knees, said nothing, bowed his head, hugged me and didn´t answer. We didn't even cry, we didn't know ... It took about half an hour. Then they lined us up and we went to the town school. We reached the place opposite the house where my mom's sister and father lived. They were outside. Mom called out, 'Daddy, goodbye!’ And the soldiers poked them with a gun and [said], 'Ruhe,' to keep silent. We went to the town school, where we were seated in the art room, each on one chair, soldiers on each side in front of us, and our dad was led away. In twenty minutes he came, sat down, didn't say a word, because we weren't allowed to talk. And as the father entered, he left to be interrogated about three times, and the last time he returned, the soldiers came in through the other door, the mayor of Zubří was among them, and then they read the sentence. They said we should say goodbye, that Dad was condemned to death and they should say goodbye to us, that they wouldn´t see us again. And then the moment came when we were saying goodbye. People were screaming, we were leaving, and my mom called out to me, 'Won´t you say goodbye to me?' And I went back to my father's arms. Then they led us to the bailiff's house - it was called so - and when we left the school, we saw a glow, a huge glow. We didn't know what it was. We were led to the bailiff's house, and the mayor´s wife, Mr. Pernice´s wife, made us tea. They went out to watch."

"They went to the barn, we kept hay stored there, so they pulled the hay out and let them [men] sleep there. They gave them some food, I don't know exactly if they gave them bread, but they fed them. They [men] stayed overnight and in the morning they talked, were given something again, according to my mom, they got coffee and bread. After being fed, they set off and went up the hill. They left. And the neighbour had two housemates. And one of them came to my mom and said to my mom, 'Františka, you should report it.' And my mom said, 'What? I don't know anything.' 'You know, Josef had someone here…overnight and you should report it. Don't trust Jan [Fabián] so as not to get in trouble.' Mom didn't say anything, pretending she didn't know anything. Daddy came home from work, I only know how it was told, and Mommy said it to him. And Dad said, 'You know what? Leave it at that, nothing happened, nobody knows anything, leave it at that.' Dad, if he had spoken in front of his brothers-in-law that he had let someone spend the night here, they would have known. If he had reported it, had announced to village authorities that he had someone here overnight, nothing would have happened. But Dad probably meant well and as he wanted to show off… I don't know. My mom couldn´t explain it either. She used to say, 'It was meant to happen.' It was over for them. And then November [1944] came."

"My dad´s father owned a shop and he always prepared everything for the partisans, then they came, took it over and it looked like a robbery. But it had been all agreed in advance. "

"It's hard to tell, because there were such events in the family ... The uncle who worked with the partisans, they wanted to take power into their hands. And they wanted to hang our neighbour. For bringing those [fake partisans] to us. They came for my mom's consent to say something against him and get him in trouble. But Mom said vengeance belonged to God, not to her. She didn't want to be involved in any way, so dear Mr. Fabian remained alive."

"January came, I was with my father's brother, and they told us, he told me, my uncle, that my father wouldn´t return home, that he was no longer alive, but that my mother would return. So they dressed us in black and we came here, where I used to live with my uncle. It was very difficult for us and it is difficult to explain it today. We had a lot of love, everyone took care of us, we didn't suffer from anything, but we missed the home."