Anežka Závodská

"Every day when the alarm went off or whatever. We had to meet at the school. And there they told us where to go. They said: if you hear the roar of those planes, or just some shooting, get into a ditch immediately. And we had to go into a ditch. We had to cover our heads and wait to see what would happen next. And that's what we had to do. We were always in that shelter. So a gentleman always explained to us what to do so we wouldn't get hurt somehow when these planes were flying and dropping bombs."

"But in 1939 I was 6 years old and I started school. So we came to school and the teacher was sad, very sad, and she said, 'Children, it's very bad, the war has started.' And we listened to the teacher as her tears were dripping and she said, 'Well, I'll teach you a nice poem about our President Masaryk.' And she did. We said it twice and knew it by heart. I still know it by heart. That's memory. She taught us: Our Daddy Masaryk, here in the picture. We children promise you honesty and love. We'll play nicely so you'll always love us."