Egon Urmann

“Those who were well informed knew that the forced deportation of the German population was in the offing. The smarter ones with access to better information actually packed their stuff in advance and fled across the border. But the conservative people who were clinging tightly to the ground – and this type of people represented the majority of the German population – they kept sitting in Žleby until they were taken on a transport to the camp. In the camp, they spent two or three months and then they were put on a train to Germany. In short, these people often didn’t believe that this could ever happen. Even after they were deported to Germany, maybe to Nuremberg where they were supposed to settle and find a new home, they would return to Bavaria where the social conditions and poverty were much worse – to not even speak about the fact that they weren’t welcome there – just to be close to the border area and to wait for the opportunity to return back home in case the conditions would improve. They thought that they just had to wait until things get better and they’d be allowed to return. That’s why most of these former deportees are to be found in Bavaria. Because even when they were moved to somewhere else, perhaps to the Rhineland, they would come back here and wait for their chance to return. That’s why in the area between Passau to the border, there are villages, whose inhabitants are composed up to maybe a half of our people.”

“There were no shootouts here, the sort of skirmishes, as they were taking place in other places. My mom said that she didn’t have anything herself that she would take across the border because we didn’t have much. However, she would help carry things for others – maybe a painting or a sewing machine. She went from Žleby down to Horní and Dolní Cazov. She told me that many times they lay hidden behind the stone terraces and the border guards were afraid to let go their dog because they were afraid that it might get shot. Mom recalled that if those border guards had only known that it was just two frightened women hiding there, they would have thrown themselves at them. They were shooting like crazy at my mom, the bullets were whizzing above their heads. She was taking huge risks but she was at home in that environment and knew every stone there. When it got dark, these guards had no chance. Only the dog could become dangerous. But they would cross the border at night when it was dark and it was only five hundred meters to the border from there.”

“The house where I was born technically was part of České Žleby, although in fact, it was on the outskirts of Lenora, just across the river. The people from that village lived about three kilometers away from the border. In spite of this, they would accept the suffering, the interrogations, the beatings, torture. They could have escaped anytime. But they thought: ‘Why would I run away? It’s bad right now, but it will pass, it will not take long and there will be peace again. This is quite extraordinary if you take into account that violent beatings of Germans were on the order of the day. For instance, they would gather all the men from the village and beat them, let them kneel – that sort of torture. Then they would send them home again. But these were innocent people. Those who had actually done something were put in jail right away. Mostly, they were taken to Písek and given long prison terms, ranging anywhere between 10 to 20 years. But these were innocent people, more or less loyal people who took the brunt of the retaliations. For instance, there was a guy called ‘fackář’ (slapper). He had a liking for slapping people.”

“I was born at a time when it was already clear that the war was lost for Germany, even if some were still dreaming about the final victory. The Americans were already somewhere in Passau, the Russians near Ostrava ... However, some of them were still fooling around in the militia, training for combat... They were actually fifteen-, sixteen-year-old boys who were drafted as the last reserves to save the Reich. My mom told those guys to run and hide! She told them it was all over. Why should they stick their head into the loop? But their commander heard my mom and told her to shut up or he’d put her to the wall and have her shot! Because this was treason to him! So you see, even at a time when we all realized it was over, there were people, such a group of fanatics, who thought that there was something to save.”