Mária Hejdová

"They took us away. They took us to Košice, where we were treated, washed and deloused. We were all infested with lice. Lice were jumping on the beds there. These nuns washed us and changed our clothes. We got two complete sets of clothes and shoes. They then took us to Prague, where we spent two months. We were malnourished and so they had to give us food. They were giving us cocoa. Until then, I've never seen cocoa and I didn't know what it was. I weighed twenty-seven kilos. We were malnourished and thus they gave us vitamins, medicines, everything. They took care of us there for two months and then they split us up and posted us to our foster families. I got into a family in Pacov."

"I witnessed firsthand the shooting of the Jews in Ulič. I still have this dreadful sight in my mind today. These poor souls had only been home for a fortnight or maybe three weeks after they had returned from the concentration camp. I don't know who reported their return but someone must have told about it because the Ukrainian nationalist insurgents came four times to our village. They came on carts and they were armed. I saw them with my own eyes. It was a terrifying sight. They had their weapons and the ammunition clips wrapped around them. Ten minutes would have been enough and the Jews would have been saved. My dad alone wasn't able to save them. I was instructed to quickly go to the Vajdík family. My dad was there. So me, a child, had to run to the Vajdík family at night to tell my dad that the nationalists had arrived in the village. Even today, I still don't know who reported that the Jews had returned. They shot all of them there. Just one sixteen-year-old girl was saved. My mom hid her in our attic. Then she was transferred to the Czech Republic, but it was all organized by my mum. She was about sixteen or seventeen years old. She was saved. My mother had arranged for her to be saved."

"I furthermore have to emphasize that my dad was a great partisan. All of a sudden, a plane flew over the streets and everyone wondered what it was. German generals stepped out of it, or I should say, it was Russians disguised as Germans. My dad did not say a word. He organized this with his friends. It was Russians in German uniforms. They came to take pictures of the German fortifications that were being built there. They even got invited to the castle of Ulič to take part in a major celebration that they organized for them. My mother cooked for them there. I remember that I came over there and my mother gave me some food that was left over from the feast."