Božena Jurošková

“Sometimes partisans would spend the whole night in our house. We would dry their clothes when they were all soaked. They would get some sleep and head back for the mountains early in the morning. And they had these two bunkers they would dig under our house, those zemlyankas, as they would call it. They used to live there when there was no action or they would be marching somewhere. Usually, they came at night. As during the day, it would be risky. During the day, there was a risk of being seen by German patrols. Germans were afraid to wander the forest at night. So at night, we could be sure they wouldn´t come. As I can´t even remember them doing any raid at night. Partisans would sleep in our house on many occasions. And every time, they were given some food. Bread, milk or coffee, maybe a soup. And as they would get some flour, they would bring it and we would bake them more bread.”

“Partisans would show up in our house in June 1944. Three of them would come. They were Russian. And we couldn´t understand them at all. It was just impossible. You couldn´t understand a word they were saying. As we were taught German at school. So they left. They retreated to Slovakia, I would say. It began later, as there was this mass march from Slovakia to our republic in August. And this Czech fellow came with them, whom we knew. After that, they would come without him. But every time some larger group or someone new would show up, they were brought by someone we knew. So we could be sure they weren´t some group of saboteurs.”