Fred Matal

"The year 1948 came and the lieutenants who fought on the Western Front began to be fired at the academy. I criticized it in enlightenment classes. I asked why they expel people who fought for our freedom. It went so far that I was fired from the military academy. I was demoted in front of the whole platoon. The commander tore off my shoulder straps. We had two stripes because I was in the second grade. He didn't do well on the other arm."

"We went to the rectory, where we were ordered to go somewhere or find out something. In the forest in Hranice, in the area of the Maleník mountains, there was an ammunition depot during the war. It was transported there from the border station by trucks. We lived nearby. For example, I took a teapot, picked up some raspberries or strawberries, and went as close as possible to the warehouse. There were soldiers standing there, several times they caught me and said I had nothing to do there, so I quickly ran away. And the next day I reported to the priest Bartošík what it looked like and whether the amount ammunition was increasing."