“During the war, were you aware of the suffering of the Jewish population?" – "I was. As I said, there was a Jewish ghetto in Luck. And there, Germans took all the property from the Jews ands they were collecting it there in a parking lot. Furniture and all kinds of things. They pillaged valuables, they stole it. I heard that there were mass executions. There were many Jews living in Luck." – "Personally did you witness some of this persecution of Jewish inhabitants?" – "No, I was not a direct witness. Personally, I only saw the Germans bringing all the confiscated things into one heap, and then making an auction.”
“My message to the following generation? What would I like to tell them? I would like each of them to realize that they are Czechs and that their homeland is Czech. I think this is what is lacking here. I think more attention should be paid to this in schools, in families. Because as I have already said, in my time, this was in the very first place, this patriotism. First of all, I am a Czech and a patriot, and then anything else. Unfortunately that’s s how it is today, and I think it is a pity, because Czech country is amazingly beautiful.”
“When the situation stabilised and they began forming kolkhozes, there wasn’t a complete collectivisation of agriculture, they only just handed in their tools, horses, when Hitler attacked the Soviet Union. No one expected that, the Soviets weren’t prepared, that’s why the Germans managed to progress east so quickly. The Soviets also made the mistake that in the time when the Soviets occupied Volhynia, the Soviet Union made an agreement with Germany to allow all the Germans in Volhynia to move to Germany with all their supplies, with their horses, wagons, food. Shortly after they were moved, Hitler attacked the Soviet Union.”
“What was your relation to the Allies, to Americans and Soviets?" – "My relation to the Allies was very positive. I cannot speak about Americans, for I have never met them, only in 1946 in Pilsen, which was a long time after the war ended. I only have to mention what I heard about the equipment of the American army, and even the German one, too… An American, he went to the front as if one goes to work. I cannot say if it’s true or not, but that’s what I heard. The Americans went to fight for eight or twelve hours, then they were taken back, changed places with the other shift, they washed themselves, shaved and rested. They had alternating shifts. Unfortunately, in our army, something like this was unthinkable. As long as you had your head between our shoulders and healthy arms and legs, you went. No shift system, no help, no leave, nothing like that existed.”
“We stood by the machine-gun, it was at night. My friend was dozing and I stood by the machine-gun and watched. When it took a long time, I told him: ´Look,´ his name was Valenta, ´Hey Valenta, come and stand by it for a while, I will take a nap.´ And so he went. But I could not fall asleep, various thoughts were twirling in my head. He thought that I fell asleep, and that I did not know I had already been sleeping for some time, and so he was pushing me, telling me to take my place by the machine-gun. I said: ´You bastard, I did not even fall asleep and you wake me up again to go for the watch.´ This is just an illustration. One had to stay alert, because otherwise you risked your life. I said: ´I cannot wait till the Fritz comes here and steps on my neck.´”
“How did you actually get to the army?" - "It was very simple. At that time we already knew there was a Czechoslovak army led by general Svoboda. We were waiting and looking forward to the coming of the front, so that we would also join the army. Immediately after the front approached, a small group of us boys set out and we went on our own. We arrived to Rovno, but then we were caught and they sent us back home, telling us that it was too early and that nobody could receive us, that the situation was not yet ready for us to enlist. So we returned home. A short time after the mass mobilization was called. We joined in our native Volhynia, then we were transported to Rovno and there was a group draft. While we were riding in the transport train in cattle trucks, there was only straw underneath, but we were on our way in pursuit of our Czechoslovak army. And thus we met Svoboda´s army on the railroad. One of us noticed the train, pulled an emergency brake and both trains stopped. As soon as they came to a halt, we all rushed helter-skelter for the train which was carrying the Czechoslovak army. At that moment we became Czechoslovak soldiers. Svoboda got off the train, he held a short speech, making us aware that we were now Czechoslovak soldiers, so that none of us would think that we were now on a trip home to our moms, or something like that. Then there was medical examination and registration. And this is how I joined the Czechoslovak army." - "And when was it?" - "In March of 1944.”
“On the front, you know it from TV or radio, that at Dukla the fighting was especially fierce. There was even a zone which was called Death Valley. Several years after I went there again to see it, and I still felt the creeps when I saw it, the monuments, tanks, and all that.”
“What was your responsibility in your unit?"– "My task was to serve as a machine-gunner. I had one assistant. A light machine-gun with the plates, Russian made. When there was an attack, I provided cover with the machine-gun. When I was wounded, my assistant then took over. After I returned from the hospital, I did not get to machine-guns anymore, I only served with a submachine-gun." – "Where were you wounded?" - "At Dukla. I was wounded in my chest on the right side, by a splinter.”
“I remember one story. We were in defence, everything was quiet. We received an order to dig trenches, and it looked as if there was no front at all. Tank submachine gunners were next to us. We no longer had horses in the army, this did not work well. The tank submachine gunners next to us unpacked their rations, they sat down in a circle and began eating, they had food. All of a sudden, out of the blue a mortar grenade fell in the middle of them and it killed almost all of them. A good friend from our village was among them. His name was Láďa Markevič. I saw him just about two days before, we said hello to each other. We admonished each other to be careful, and not to take unnecessary risks. But two days after this happened to him. The grenade tore them to pieces.”
“As I have already said, I saw when a mine was dropped among those boys. And then I saw, when we launched an attack, there was an offensive, there was heavy artillery fire and then we attacked from all our weapons. When the enemy retreated and we came to the deserted battlefield, there were dead soldiers. Germans, and our boys, and horses, and weapons scattered all over, vehicles, and military equipment, all mixed together. There was not a square metre which would be left untainted.”
Josef Kotyza was born on November 11th, 1923 near Luck in the Volhynia region. He attended a Polish school and was a member of the volleyball team and Czech choir. His family owned a small farm. Josef worked in agriculture until 1944, when he joined the Czechoslovak army in Rovno. He went through military training in a camp in Romanian Bessarabia. His deployment to the front took place before the Carpathian-Dukla operation on the Polish territory. He served as a machine gunner with a scouting unit. He was wounded in combat in the Dukla Pass. After his return to the front, he served as a sub-machine gunner with the rank of private-sergeant. With the army, he participated in the liberation of Czechoslovakia and he eventually made his way to Prague. After the war, he served in the border patrol for several months near Žatec, where he was demobilized. He worked for the state forests and railway engine house in Pilsen. He was decorated with the Czechoslovak Memorial Medal and the Czechoslovak Medal of Valour. Josef Kotyza died on January 24, 2021.
