Miluše Dědková

"I was young girl and our house was crowded with soldiers and my parents were worried, they were worried about me, so they sent me to my aunt named Proskova living in the next village. And this is my cousin here on the picture. So we stayed with the Proskova family. There were no soldiers there, because it was really small place. We were sleeping on this sofa here like this, you know, because there were seven of us and we all had to fit on it. There was also my cousin. He was married, his wife was there too. I think they didn’t have any kids yet. At the night some Soviet soldier came knocking on the door. My cousin opened the door for him and he got in and turned his flash light right on us. You can imagine what we were thinking - now he will pick one of us and then he...´Show me your hands! ´So we all showed him our hands. Whoever had watches on them, the soldier made them take it off. He shut my cousin in the room and wanted some gold from him. My cousin said he didn’t have any, so he stayed shut in there for a long time, but at the end the soldier didn’t get any gold. And as he was walking out of the house he saw my cousin's new shoes at the hall. So he took at least the new shoes..."

"In the morning me, Maria here and Rosta - her brother, we decided to go back home, because we were afraid that they will be coming here. So we walked back home thru the field from this Kocanda place back to Mirohost village. And the Germans were firing at us from the woods again. We heard whistling of the bullets all around us. And as we were reaching Mirohost we saw katyusha rockets there. The whole line of them and the whole regiment too. They asked where we were going and told them we’re going home. And when we got home the soldiers that were staying with us grabbed our hands and said: ´come on girls, you’ll be dying with us´. That’s how they welcomed us back home."

"And we had to grass the cows. We had school holidays and my mom woke me up at 5am to take the cows to pasture. Or gooses when I was still little . And later when I grew up, I was eleven though, when the war against Poland began, I had to grass the cows. What an adventure too! I used to be alone on the filed. There were about five cows with me, I was just sitting on the balk and all of a sudden I heard the planes approaching. That was on September 1st 1939. And the war against Poland started. And those were German planes! I was stupid little girl, I used to have this stick to urge the cows with and I stood up there and was pretending that I’m shooting at the planes. And they started to fire back at me! I just heard the whistle around my ears and only then I’ve realized that I was under fire! But because it was peace time, nobody had any idea, and the war started out of the blue. It was September 1st 1939."

"And what happened with the Bandera bandits? (This was a group of rebellious Ukrainians operated in Slovakia fighting hand in hand with Germans against the former Soviet Union). Were they still active even after 1944 when the Soviet soldiers took control again?" "Yes, that was the worse thing!" „The worse thing ? “ "Yes, because they still wanted to control Ukraine." "And so what happened after?" "Well they were killing too. If they knew someone who would cooperate with the Soviets, they simply killed him." "So when did the Soviets managed to take control over them, how long did it take?" "They never managed to at all." "Even when you were leaving these bandits were still active there?" “Yes, sure . And now, when we got back there again, here next to our cemetery - I showed you the pictures - they built a monument for them! They built it right next to the Czech cemetery! That made us very angry! For the nation, for the honor´ - it’s written on it." "That is a matter of an opinion; they used to be heroes in the Ukrainians eyes." "So here is the cemetery and somewhere here is the monument standing. And they built it for them, for those who have been killed! Right by the Czech cemetery! "

"What else can I tell you? There was this sewer, her name was Vera who had two small children and they were hiding from the Germans in our barn. They were forced to leave their own house so our dad let them stay in our barn. We used to have this basement under the barn. Its entry was covered well with hay and during night they could go out there and now...During the day they always came to our house and we gave them something to eat. I remember the kids being very clever and smart. One day a garrison came to us and they boxed their horses in our barn. Now imagine that, we had the Jews there." „So you have had the Jews and the horses at the same time...?" "Yes, the Jews were hiding in there at the same time as the Germans were there with their horses. And she went outside and passed by this German and said: ´ Guten tag (it means Hallo in German language - translator’s note). And kept on going! ´ „The Jewish woman?“ "Right, but our dad told them: ´You have to leave, you have to leave! So they really left that night and made themselves the dugout in the nearby field. And the Germans shot them all."