“In the war they began to aspire for an independent Ukraine and they didn’t want Jews nor Poles. They tolerated the Czechs because they would find a shelter at their homes. That was the reason why they got along quite well with us.” Interviewer: “There were also the Melnykists for example. The Melnykists were the good guys right? Or at least the better ones.” Václav Najman: “I have no idea what a Melnykist is.”
“I was a member of a reconnaissance platoon and the platoon leader was a guy by the name of Pucher. He was a Rusyn from Carpathia. Our task was to carry out reconnaissance missions. We’d usually go out on a mission at night scouting enemy territory. You could see the German trenches and find out about the position of their machine guns. We returned back and reported on our observations. During the day, we were usually positioned on the defense line.”
"All of a sudden, a tank passed us, next to the command headquarters which was located in a burned-down building of which only the chimney was still standing. An officer came to my commander – Pulchar – and told him to send a man for the tank to come back. I was standing around and Pulchar picked me. He told me to run and bring that tank back. I came into a gorge that led to a village. In that gorge, I encountered Germans who waved at me. So I fell down as if they had shot me. Otherwise, they might have come for me. When there was no more movement, I started crawling back on the hill. After about two hours, I made the way back crawling. Pulchar embraced me and told me: 'I sent you to your death'."
“When the Germans were on the retreat, they placed us in the railway depot to repair the engines. I went to school there for about a year and a half and then I went to school there for about two months. When I realized that the end was near I stopped going to work there. I was afraid to work there any longer since the depot became a frequent target of air raids.”
"After we had fully recovered, they were about to let us go. But this is what happened. The hospital had a storehouse that was guarded by the Russians. One day, the whole stock of alcohol disappeared. So they kicked out all the Russians and we were ordered to take their place as guards. And finally, we stayed there until the end of the war and then we went to Germany with that field hospital. They only let us go home in August."
“The first brigade took the road to Dukla – it was one of several possible ways to Dukla. But when they got into the first village, the German troops opened fire at them. They had the whole place surrounded, it was a mess. They got into a cross fire. Many boys died there. Our troops were supposed to carry out an assault on their positions. Panic broke out. I was part of a reconnaissance platoon and we were holding the defense line. When General Svoboda arrived, he ordered us to open fire at anybody retreating from battle.”
First lieutenant in ret. Václav Najman was born on 1 September, 1926, in Český Ulbárov in Volhynia. He witnessed the Soviet and the German occupation of Volhynia, went to elementary school in Ulbárov and studied an industrial school in Zdolbunov. In 1944, shortly before the arrival of the Red Army to Volhynia, he was assigned to work in the railway depot in Zdolbunov. On 20 March, 1944, he joined the newly-created 1st Czechoslovak army corps where he served in the 1st motorized brigade as a scout. He fought at Krosno, Machnowka and he also took part in the battle for the Dukla Pass, where he suffered a leg injury. He was recovering in Přemyšl and in Lvov. Afterwards, he was transferred to the Red Army where he served as a medic in the field hospital. He was charged with overseeing the hospital storehouses. He served in Poland as well as in the eastern part of Germany and he returned to Czechoslovakia as late as August 1945. After the war, he settled in Žatec, graduated from an industrial school and worked in a screw-production factory. He presently lives in Žatec.
