Helena Vaníková

"Two guerrilla fighters came one night. They were all in white, wearing these suits made of bedsheets to merge with the snow. We all came into the hall, us children and our mother. The man just said in Russian: 'Comrade Polic, it's time!' Daddy helped them secretly at night. During the day, he would try to gain some intel, as we shared the house with the Gestapo and the Germans. Then at night, he was with the guerrillas again. Do you know how that felt? The kind of tension that we grew up in? No one can imagine that! Don't talk, don't say anything because it could would cost us our lives."

"The Banderites raided our kolkhoz and burned it down. They didn't let the livestock to get out. Our house and yard were opposite the kolkhoz, not far away. My grandfather Polic, dad's dad, used to keep watch in that cowshed and helped cows giving birth to calves. The Banderites put him under this heavy trough and covered him; he could suffocate there. When everything was on fire, they rode away. Dad quickly ran away to save his onw daddy. He took him out of the trough and grandpa was half dead, scared to death. He [daddy] opened all doors to get the livestock out. Still, about ninety sheep burned to death."