Richard Němec

“At that time my dad was locked up in Opava. He worked in SA units for a year and a half. He was digging graves in the Opava cemetery with other prisoners there. There is a huge monument to the Soviet soldiers, who died there. They were locked in the barracks in Olomoucká Street and went to work in the cemetery. We regularly visited dad on a bike. We used to bring him clean clothing, a piece of butter, or something to eat. We came there once, and the guard said no one was here, that the prisoners would come later. We wanted to wait there, but he threw us out on the street. We asked where they would come from, sat on the grass, and waited. Suddenly I saw there were a lot of people there. The prisoners were also returning to the barracks. These people began to spit at them and swore them ´Germanic whores´. I thought maybe they weren't even people. Dad and the others arrived with spit. They had to bear it.”

“We slept with a farmer at night when someone was banging on the door. A soldier came and knelt by my mother. There were about fifteen of us, lying on the ground. Brother Evald laid on one side beside the mother, me on the other. He knelt by his mother and said, 'Give me!' The mother just covered her face with her hands. He said, 'Give me!' She did nothing. So he pulled out his gun and shot it in the ceiling. What a dust! Then my mother went out with him crying. And a grandfather who was there with us got up, turned on the lamp, and went out to find our mom. He found her outside lying on the stairs.”