Richard Hlavatý

“[Q: How long were the Russians in your village and how did they behave there?] They came with horses and carts and they were here for about ten days. There were about thirty of them, they lived in our home, they made themselves masters of the house, they took up the whole place and we had to move out. They took all of my sister’s equipment! Then they took our car, I had to go with them, they went to get some women from Hořovice, where the Germans had been gathered for expulsion, they brought them back, boozed and enjoyed themselves. There was a distillery in Hořovice, so they had plenty of drink and they were smashed the whole time.”

“We were noticed by a German patrol: ‘Halt! Halt!’ Dad lashed the horses: ‘Giddap!’ We drove out across a field behind Drozd and Cerhovice. The Germans were delayed, we had a big head start with the horses, and we knew we’d get away. We lost them along the way, and we came back home via the garden at the back. If they’d have been clever, they’d surely have found our tracks.”

“It was a normal working day, we were collecting potatoes from the field, all our family and the people who were helping us. A car arrived in the evening. We were about to go home. Four people got out: ´Are you Mr. Hlavatý?´ - ´Yes.´ - ´Leave it all here, we are arresting you, you are arrested!´ Father said: ´No way. Even if there were twenty of you, you’d not be lucky.´ I still remember it. ´You can have your way, but we will take the potatoes home first.´ But the people on the field were obviously scared by them and mother held this speech there. We got on the wagon and rode home with the horses. We were passing by the pond, there is a dam and father handed me the reins and told me: ´Go on! Don’t worry about me, I’ll jump out!´ Before I could turn, he jumped from the wagon over the fence and he jumped down, it was already dark, and suddenly one of the man in the back began shouting, and fired a shot, and the man in the front fired, too, and said: ´I shot him!´ But father was already gone, even before the man fired and before the man in the front noticed anything. The horses went on, and he shouted: ´Stop, stop!´ They were afraid to go there, because they didn’t know if father was armed or not. Obviously, he didn’t have anything, and two of them then went with me to take the horses home and two of them were watching father there, they were probably afraid, because they were no heroes… Father crawled to the neighbour’s property from there and at night he ran away. After that he told us that he had even been at home in the barn and was looking at them, but then he got up and left.”

Interviewer: “I would like to ask you about Bartolomějská – they didn’t interrogate you there at all?” R. H.: “They did.” Interviewer: “And how they treated you during the interrogation?” R. H.: “Some were tough, some were better. You know, I did get hit, too, it had to be. Or they would place a pencil like this, and then sit on it…” Interviewer: “Between your fingers?” R. H.: “That’s right, between the fingers. Or they strangled you, all kinds of things. The way the did it…I was saying: I know, I don’t know, I will tell something, I will not tell. And they always came with a fact. Many times they claimed: ´We saw you there, you were on the field.´ Or: ´Matějovský’s field was just over the road, and you talked to him there…´ And so on. I couldn’t believe it, it was all prepared beforehand.” Interviewer: “Did they torture you mentally – like forcing you to stand in the cell?” R. H.: “Not in the cell, it was so small that we could hardly move. But I can say that they knew... They were actually not interested in me anymore, they only wanted to know some details, whether I knew them or not. I was answering – I know and I don’t know. What could I do? I defended myself… But they came with so many things about me that I had to keep quiet and I was just saying: ´Well, if you know it, it will probably be true. I’m telling you that I don’t know.´”

“When we have accumulated enough provisions, partisans for whom we were preparing them would come. Father began bringing in pigs, which we then slaughtered illegally. The supplies came from various places. My father had friends everywhere. He would get into every village, where supplies could be obtained, he would buy them, bring sheep... We were going to Mr. Straka to Mlečice, before they began searching for him, to Mr. Bureš to Točník, and most of all we were going to Karlov. There was a farm, its administrator was my father’s friend, and we always brought many pigs from there, which we then illegally slaughtered. Father always prepared the meat into my rucksack, and at nights I was carrying it to the forest, and Mr. Malina, the gamekeeper, would then take it over and carry it into that bunker. I was a young boy, going to school, and with my cousin Jenda Matějka, I was killing the pigs, or my father did, and at nights I was helping him and many times I wasn’t even able to see the path in the morning when I was on my way to school, and I was falling asleep at school, because I was so tired. It was all done secretly, not even the coachman knew what was going on there.”

“I was arrested and they took me to number four in Bartolomějská, and they didn’t do anything with me, they were arguing that I had nothing to do there, because I was a minor, I was underage. I only turned eighteen later in May. They said that I wouldn’t be there for long, and I was there till 6th June or so. At the beginning of June they transported us to Svatý Jan and from time to time I was interrogated there, and my sister was bringing me packages with food there, which I was receiving and sharing with the people who were there. I was basically among strangers, there were eight of us in the cell, and the people were changing. When I was in front of the committee in Svatý Jan, they didn’t speak to me at all. ´Hlavatý, you intended to cross the border, here is your sentence.´ Intended to cross the border, and unsupportive of the people’s republic regime. I was thus sentenced to two years. We were there and we were going to work to Loděnice. There was a vineyard, so we were working there, but overall we were free and then we were transported to the mines in Jáchymov near Příbram. Well, I got to know quite a lot of places, and many people who were imprisoned. Some of them were imprisoned because of their property…”

“Some time in March I was released from Slovakia and I had to start working in Králův Dvůr. I began working there and I was there till I had to go to the army. I was not allowed to have permanent residence in Újezd. I thus rented a room and because they needed my help at home, I was going there illegally. The train stops behind our garden, and I would run home, and do the work and then get on the train again. When I went to the army, they came for me and told me I had to do my military service. They asked me: ´Do you have any knives at home? Do you know how to kill a cow?´ I answered: ´Of course, I was doing it throughout the entire war.´ He says: ´That’s it!´ They took me to Varnsdorf. We were issued German uniforms there, until Czech uniforms were delivered, and I went to Kudeřice near Bílina, that was when the church in Most was transported, and so on. There was a kitchen in Kudeřice, they brought a cow for us there, it was slaughtered and we ate it – well, we led a nice life there. After that I was in Líny near Pilsen, at the airport…”