Jiří Janíček

"When there was the tension about Cuba, my sister was having a wedding at the time and I couldn't go because we had an emergency. That was unpleasant. But the company commander was a captain here from Olešná, and he came to apologize to me afterwards, saying that there was no other way. But we didn't have any big concerns. I wasn't afraid, it was far away from us and we took it as a kind of exercise."

"On the ninth of May we were living near Žďárská Street. So we went down this narrow alley and I remember it quite well, because it was a really unusual sight to see those long lines of soldiers in grey and green uniforms. They didn't say anything and you could see they were tired. Then my attention was drawn to points in the sky towards the Three Crosses. I heard different voices and concerns. My mother said we had to hide quickly. It was Russian planes bombing those retreating Germans. We managed to hide in the basement and the detonations were felt. We were scared, of course. During the air raid, someone was banging on the door upstairs. Mother came back with a soldier in a German uniform. But he started speaking Russian and took off his uniform. Underneath, he was wearing the uniform of a soldier in the Russian army. He was probably some kind of scout. He offered me chocolate, but I was so upset I didn't like it."