Anna Melková

"I remember going to the coal shed on May 6, 1945, and I heard a terrible rumble. I was very scared, because there was a business school a few houses down the street, and I saw a platoon standing there, at least fifty German soldiers with anti-tank missiles. So we thought they were attacking, given that we already knew that the Americans were approaching Pilsen. Fear that they would start firing, we were terrified, but they were standing and didn´t even move. My sister and I ran to Tyl Street, and the first American tanks arrived when we came. The third tank stopped, we looked at it dumbfoundedly, one soldier got up, climbed out of the tank and asked: 'And where are your beer and cakes?' We were left completely in surprise. Then he told us that he was Czech-American and I no longer remember exactly when he said that he got to America and how it was with him. That was such a surprise. Then they continued down today's American Avenue and into the square where they stopped. My sister and I went home then when the main convoy passed. In the afternoon, my boyfriend and I went out in Pilsen to see what was happening. And we came down to the synagogue, and suddenly there was a shooting around us from the house opposite the synagogue. The Germans, who were hidden in their houses, started to attack. An American came running up to us, pulling us both to hide. He stood calmly, aimed and fired. Nothing moved with him. We ran to the shop, where there are still books today, where we ran to hide, but we looked through the shop window. The Americans were absolutely calm, sitting on the tanks, shooting, and they began to bring out the Germans from the drugstore at the Black Dog's house, who were shooting and armed. "

"We went to school and suddenly a lot of soldiers everywhere. But the first soldiers were ours, who had to return from the so-called Sudetenland - the border. They had to leave because a document was signed that we were giving up. Which the soldiers carried very hard. They were dirty, they were hungry, they needed water. We brought water to the horses. They were very sad that they could not defend our homeland. The next day, the Germans appeared, who, I don't know why, had bayonets and everything ready. It was terrible, completely incomprehensible to us children, even though we were around fourteen. This is how our occupation began. As young people, we were angry with the Germans and, following the example of the first president Tomáš Masaryk, we had hats made, so-called 'masaryčky', which were dark with a peak and had a tricolor in the middle, and we wore them angry with the Germans without realizing that we played with our lives to some extent. They were uncompromising and wanted to suppress anything."