Ferdinand Hrazdíra

* 1930  †︎ 2011

  • „They took horses, cows and they transported it all to boarders. And when he saw a bike – although he couldn’t ride it and was falling down again and again, he wanted it anyway. Another thing they wanted very much were watches. Once a Russian soldier came and said his watches didn’t work and he wanted to exchange it for another. He didn’t know, that watches have to be wound up. And another soldier had an alarm clock in his rucksack and when it started to ring, he threw it on the ground and shoot it to bits. He thougt it to be some kind of bomb.“

  • „We were hiding in a cellar when Russians came , one of them could hardly stand, so drunk he was. They entered our hall and shouted: ,Where are Germans?‘. So we started going out of the cellar, but my sister didn’t – she might haven’t heard them and the drunken soldier fired into the cellar from his submachine gun. We all stood absolutely shocked!... German soldiers were on positions on the hill near the village with a machine gun and I told the Russian: ,There are Germans on the hill‘ and he replied: ,Our people are many!‘. And suddenly fire started – he fell down and his fellow left him lying on the ground and went away.“

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    Ochoz u Brna, 21.04.2011

    (audio)
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
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The German soldier said: You are waiting for liberators, but you’ll be disappointed

Hrazdira after the second war
Hrazdira after the second war
photo: archiv pamětníka

Ferdinand Hrazdíra was born in 1931 in Ochoz near Brno. In April 1945 the front went over their village. German soldiers occupied their house, Hrazdíra‘s family had to stay in a cellar. He recalls the arrival of the Red Army, they hid their valuables so that Russians couldn’t steal it. They had to bury killed Russian soldiers, because the Russians didn’t care about them. Their motto was: „We are many!”. After communistic putsch in 1948, his family‘s farm was confiscated, his mother and sister were forced to enter JZD (local agriculture cooperative), mr. Hrazdíra worked as a tractor driver. In early 70’s he was employed at Military Constructions, they were building military basis and apartments for Soviet soldiers and officers, who stayed in Czechoslovakia after the invasion in 1968. He has never been a member of Communistic Party.