“Do you know who came for us to lead us to the concentration camp from home? They took everything from us, the house, the equipment, the neighbors sold everything to each other. As they led us there, Mr. Bicek came for us. There were two houses like this by the river, outside the village. The Bicks lived in Peterka's house. And he hosted there, they were at his place for holidays, we saw it with our own eyes when we sometimes walked by, that the Gestapo were there. He hosted the Gestapo, the lady cooked for them, they were there for holidays. Because Mr. Kohout across the street was the gentleman who told mom everything about what was going on there because he saw it. He came for us, he had a red star on his lapel.'
"We were in the gym. There was straw all around those walls, as the gym was big. There was sawdust from the straw, a cut. Later I learned that Russian prisoners were there first on the same straw, then German prisoners were there too, they massacred them, they were beaten there. Those were experiences. Today, when I go to the cemetery, today it is already spread over there in the field, so believe it or not, so when I go to that pile, I think to myself, guys, Austrians, German soldiers who were of Austrian origin are resting here. They drove there with the buggy and were eager to be home. But they didn't get far. Because they beat them with shovels and threw them into a pit. Almost like in Tušť."
"It happened when Hitler came to power. Grandfather felt that he was a Bavarian, a German by origin, so he signed up. But he forgot one of the worst essential things, and that is that as soon as he applies, he automatically has to enlist in the war, like all Germans, his three sons. My father went first, he was the oldest, Josef Rettinger, then Karel enlisted, he was my beloved uncle, I loved him, and he loved me. I felt very sorry, he also visited me when he was in the army. He came to see me at the boarding school in Třebon, according to my father's story, uncle Karel experienced the entire Russian front, that cruel winter, etc. Hitler came there, but he didn't know that he should equip them with properly warm things, he didn´t know that Russian winter. And the youngest got the worst, that Matěj, Matyas was his name, because he got shrapnel at the front, it flew a little on his nose, and before the paramedics came, his eyes started leaking and he was blind. Unfortunately. That's what grandpa did.''
Jaroslava Kotlabová, née Rettingerová, was born on April 2, 1932 in the settlement of Vyšná near Veselí nad Lužnicí. Dad’s father, Josef Rettinger, came from Bavaria, Germany, but spent almost his entire life in Tušť, South Bohemia. The village located on the border was automatically annexed to the German Empire in 1938. Local residents freely chose their nationality. Her grandfather chose Germany. This verdict was fatal for the whole family after the outbreak of World War II. Jaroslava’s father and both of her uncles had to enlist in the Wehrmacht. At the end of the war, 13-year-old Jaroslava and her mother were taken by members of the Revolutionary Guard to a collection internment center for Germans and collaborators, where they spent several months. In May 1945, her father fell into American captivity and was no longer allowed back into his homeland. His daughter saw him only after 41 long years. Jaroslava was married twice and she has two sons, one from each marriage. In 2021, she lived in České Budějovice.
