Marie Malá

“There was probably no work down in Přední Paště so my granny and mum went to do something up to Krankbauerhof. It’s in Babylon direction. It was the time of ripe cherries. My mum was up in the cherry tree and threw the cherries down to me. And I can see it really as if it happened only yesterday that there was a postman in a black cloak coming. He shouted at my mum that there was an important letter for my granny. Mum went down, she looked at that... And it was a telegram that my granny’s son fell in the war. And I remember the picture, when they took his photo out, where the mass grave was. It was somewhere in the East front. It was a grave in such a field, there were maybe two hundred wooden crosses with names of those who fell.”

“It was towards the end of the war, there were crowds of war prisoners passing by. They were being dragged somewhere up the hill to Bučina. There was supposed to be a prison working camp. Those were Russian soldiers but soldiers of other nationalities as well. There was a trough with water in the village square. And my granny went out one day, she poured some water in a bucket and because she lost two her sons in the war she wanted to give them some water. However, she was knocked down to the ground even with the bucket of water. Those were cruel and sad moments because many soldiers, no matter what nationality... many of them died of exhaustion on their way and some of them were even shot dead.”

“Just the Haass got summons that they should come to Dlouhá Ves. So off they went. They were still allowed to use their horse carriage. They were squires, but when they arrived there they were returned because the camp was overcrowded with people. And it was some distance, Babylon and Dlouhá Ves. In about two month time they went there for the second time. This time their two sons came back because there were cattle in Babylon left and there was nobody to feed them. They got up in the morning, fed the cattle, mucked out manure from the stables, they touched every little cow and stroke horses’ manes. Then they looked back over their shoulders and looked over the countryside and it was already absolutely desolate. All farms were already empty. They were the last ones leaving the land. And then, for the third time, it was just on St. Martin’s feast, they were being transported to no idea where.”

“The war, as far as I know, affected almost all families. I managed to see some documents where the dead were shortlisted. And I think that there was one from each house but also two or three. There were many children there. But far the worst was when two sons and on top of that their father fell, which was just the case from Paště. You can imagine how much they hated the war. Those were entirely ordinary people. I think if they had the chance to kill Hitler they would definitely do it. It was not everywhere the same, it’s obvious. But they knew only hard toil out there in the hills. So those, if they could liquidate it all, they would definitely do it.”