Josef Kokotek

"There were many of us from the Silesia, for Teschen region. The general training took about ten days. After that we had to take the oaths and then we left to France."

„ Do everything possible to avoid the war. I don’t wish for anyone to experience this, the fear. If the bullet hit you and you’re death in instance - that’s nothing. You can’t defend yourself. But to become a disabled person without an arm or leg, that was my biggest fear. Frankly, the partisans meant no harm to us. There weren’t any at the place we were. Our situation was better than on the east front. It didn’t really take too long since the June 6th, but the danger still remained anyway. There were more bombing attacks there. There was a strong air force."

"They told us ´it is invasion, probably´, but they didn´t believe it until the next morning when everything was on fire. We have received an order to pack up everything and we went to the front."

"There used to be a rule for people who were registered as Silesian nationality had to go to the army quite sooner. My dad signed the so called Volkslist (German People’s List) and therefore I had to go to German army."

"We were hidden in the shelter when we heard the calling of the Americans: ´German, get out of there! ´ So we got out with our hands up. They sent us on the meadow near by and then they started complete check up. We had to take everything off, empty all pockets...Then three steps forward and leave everything behind on the ground. We never came back to collect our things."