Milan Drbohlav

„They were so fussy, they´d not even know where they were. Someone courageous asked them, what they´re doing here, and whether they have any idea about their whereabouts. And they´d not know they´re in Czechoslovakia. They got an order in the morning or at night to cross the borders and it was not the crews, as we then thought, that they were dislocated crews in Germany, but they were from somewhere in the central Russia so the poor boys didn’t have a clue where they were. They thought they may be in Bulgaria or Romania, which was closer... Well all right, that was the end, they said nothing on the radio and television neither of course, as it was already occupied too... So we thought we´d just have to wait and see how it turns out...“

„In 1968 things were happening already during spring and summer. Hence it was probably called the Prague Spring and it was an attempt of some representatives of the communist party to build socialism with a human face here. There was a lot of controversy around it, and debates, a new wing of the central committee has been created and still it looked it will come out well in the end. And just that year the Czechoslovakia was meant to organise the common practice of the Warsaw pact armies. Every year it took place in a different state and in 1968 it was Czechoslovakia. It was called Vltava, the training was done and in July as the troops were going away the rumours were, that the troops withdrew, but right here at the Eastern Germany border, the Soviet troops remained. They would not go further to their bases, they had since the end of the WW2 after the division of victorious powers they had their bases since 1945, they simply stayed near the Czechoslovakian borders.“