Ludmila Voráčková

"There were also Russian soldiers and our partisans. This Mirek Černý, he was the commander of the group there, in that region. Well, he was shot. He had four wounds in one leg, six in the other. And he was lying on my bed! But he was there for four days, but then he had to leave. They would have eliminated us otherwise. My sister and I had an incident. We had a cellar under the barn and there were small potatoes for the cattle and beets. And my sister Anežka and I were cutting the beets. And we were singing songs Malý hošík černovlasý, Babinský and so on - and suddenly it got dark between the doors. We were scared, we looked to see who it was. And there were two Soviets. Here they still had the belts, and there they had the bullets on it, like they used to have. And one of them said: 'Eto ničego, děvočky, ně bojtěs. Gdě papa?' They were looking for dad to guide them. And we told him he was in the field. So, one of us went to get him, I think it was me, and then he took them away. One was called Petr and one was called Aljoša, and we remembered them in a good light. They just protected us, it was good. On the other hand, it wasn't good."

"Well, when the war started, the sky was completely red, red like when there is a fire. So, my mother said it was bad. And then after the war, when the army came to us, the Soviets, they [the Germans] went away and there were tanks or cars left there in this - we called it Zmola, there was a stream flowing and it was piled up or it was driven there. So, we were glad that the bombing was over. Well, and we had to watch my brother because he was small. They boys were climbing alongside the tanks, but there was still ammunition! So, we had to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn't get hurt. We were told by dad and mom that we had to watch him. Because he was the only boy, us three girls and a boy. And then we were very happy that it was over. We were so happy. I was already 14 years old, so then I went to work. I had to stay at home because my mother got sick. So, I was at home for a year, but then I went to work."

"They slept in our barn, we came there in the morning, well, our parents came there. And that's where the refugees slept when they escaped from the front. So, they slept in the barn. Because we were living in a - we had a house more secluded than others. Between the gardens and the woods. On one side was the forest and on the other side were the gardens. So, we were more like at the end of the village. They stayed there, but they were always gone during the day. During the day they were afraid that somebody would find them there."