Albín Huschka

“There were still German soldiers in the forest, they were chased like hares, and they always asked, 'Wo sind die Rusen? Where are the Russians? 'We came to such a villa in the High Field and we wanted to stay there, but we were told: ,No, no, we're full, we don't take anyone in anymore. 'There were only women there. But finally, we persuaded them and they let us stay there. And suddenly the Russians came. My mother was said to be cunning, and when the Russians said: 'We'll hang around here a bit and then we'll come back and fry some mushrooms.', my mom said: 'There´ll be no frying here', she grabbed me and we ran away again." -"And where did you go?" - “To the forest and there we stayed at such a hut, a cottage and the next day we came back home to Koclířov. At that time one of the pubs was burning because Russians had set it on fire after not being given any spirits. And my father told us that the Russians took turns driving here and there and some stopped by us. The captain was drunk, and he kept saying to Dad, 'Hey, you´re German.' And it looked as if they were going to shoot him, but there was a Russian woman and she said to him, 'Go for water. And don't come back! ‘So he went for water and never came back. And in the morning the Russians were gone because they moved on."

"Generally, the German army was retreating and in Koclířov it happened as well. We were in such a place where the headquarters used to be. There was the headquarters again and it was quite an army, I'll tell you – cars full of people, tracked vehicles, the whole Koclířov was crowded. They were heading west, to Pilsen, they wanted to join the Americans. At that time my father was already at home. At night, they [Germans] were suddenly told that the Russians were already in Mohelnice, and they had to leave. And the commander asked, 'So, Mrs. Huschka, are you coming with us, too?' And my mom would have gone, but my father said, 'No, once I'm here, I want to die here. Once I arrived up to here. So we stayed. And then we heard that the next day, behind Polička, the whole army got trashing because they hadn´t been ready and the partisans from the forests sorted them out properly. If we had been there, we would have been among them, too. The Russians were heading to Prague and they also stopped there. And when the Russians came, my mom grabbed me and we went to Vysoké Pole [High Field]."-"And where was your Dad?"-"Dad stayed at home. And we ran away because they [the Russians] were taking hold of young and old women, they weren´t choosy."

"As he was in the German army and the uprising started, he threw grenades. He always managed to do so, but once it exploded in his hand. Then he woke up in a hospital occupied by the Poles. And to whom the holy Poles had read Mass he was gone the next day. So my father lay in bed the other way round. When they came at night and went after him, there were just his legs. He started screaming, the lights were turned on, but nobody was seen around. They had read him Mass, because he was to undergo a surgery the next day. Well, they brought him in for the operation, and when he was already lying on the operating table, a bomb flew in and all the doctors standing around were killed. He survived because he was lying there. Then he got up and left the hospital. On his way, he walked past a cottage from which two SS men came out and said: 'Some nasty Pole again, take him round the corner!' And my father, blood all over him, told them: 'I´ll show you a nasty Pole!' They stared at him open-mouthed because he could speak German and took him to the commander who got him out of trouble. And this way my father got home. "