Václav Hieke

"The teacher woke us up and said, 'Boys, wake up, we've been attacked by Russians!' Suddenly there was shooting, planes flying, rumble in the city. So we got up, we went downstairs to the dining room. I remembered it all later when I had the opportunity to talk to Mrs Moučková in Rumburk. That we came to the dining room, there was a television, black and white, and there Mrs Moučková was announcing that we had been attacked by the troops. It was all: 'We are with you, be with us' or something like that. But I remember her, because she said at the discussion - I digressed a little bit - there was a discussion with her in Rumburk, she didn't actually have any documentation from that moment. Unfortunately, neither had I. But I remembered clearly that I saw her there. And then after breakfast we went to this big school courtyard, and the director was there, and I also remember the cook was sitting there. She was quite fat, she was old to me at that time, but perhaps she wasn't that old, but she had lived through the war. She was sitting on a chair and she was crying, crying terribly, and she said, 'Boys, you're going to war. They will kill you. There will be war.' She was crying so hard. And the director said he went across town and witnessed the shooting. We cancelled all of our plans and went home."