Josef Jedlička

“(Should we have fought?) No, not fight. God save, we would have been cut to pieces like Polish. What would we have achieved as a handful when there was a mass around us (of Germans). French weapons, Belgian, Dutch, our weapons. We only had a few scrubby ones, I call them scrubby. At that time I saw it as a boy, fortresses, fortresses. They would have just shot twice with a tank. And what about the borders to Austria, Poland, Slovakia? I will tell everyone straight into the eyes that he is crazy, that he would like to massacre our nation. As the troops were marching, so they would have liquidated us. In addition there were the people from Sudets. Such is my opinion.”

“The name didn´t mean anything to me, I was from the Carpathian Russia. We were not told anything about the (brothers) Čapeks. First after the war I heard something about him. He himself said that he was Čapek from Bohemia. We met. But it was not possible to talk too much there, they were punishing it hardly.”

“Look, you were moving between the wagons. If I piss or not, nobody knows. I didn´t carry water with me. Just a little water was enough and it was already forcing out the oil. Everything went from the West, from the Ruhr land over Hannover to the front. What losses there were then on the front, when everywhere on the wagons it was written: Richtung Warschau. They were heading to Warsaw, it means to the East. Most of it went to Stalingrad and to that region.”

“I worked at the railway. I was sent to Kassel. There we were building railways. I fled from there, but they caught me, so they sent me to Hannover. There I worked as a shunter. At the railway it is possible to do various things. We wore uniforms. More and more soldiers were being sent (to the front). Friends at the railway and at the shunting were very interested, how it would turn out at the East front. I said: ´Napoleon didn´t end well there, due to frosts.´ I was afraid to say something…”