Marie Popelková

“On 8th May, 1945 we were at home and as the tanks started to pass by, we took our stuff and went to the cemetary. From the cemetery to the forest and we got all the way to the swimming pool. There was Mr. Štraus, who told us to join them as they had a hide built there. They placed even benches there and his whole family was hiding in. They took us to their cover. Men used to go outside for a smoke and we stayed in with my mummy. My brother was five years older than me; he was nineteen and I was fourteen. Suddenly there was shooting again so we hid inside and no one got hurt. Around half past twelve a huge bang came. Daddy went out to look. I can still see it today: ‚Something happened, something must have happened.‘ And indeed, a bomb fell down. The Russians threw it by accident. The soldier, whose duty was to give signals in places that were already liberated, unfortunately died. And they did not send anyone else. The airplanes were flying over and the pilots saw many people together, so threw bombs down. One fell down right in front of the castle. There was no hole, it created a kind of a pit and the explosion went into the distance. 114 locals from Hrotovice and 34 soldiers fell. The silence in Hrotovice on the next day, that was something... I remember it still clearly the kind of silence. Nothing was happening, but the human silence... No one walked, no one talked, no one worked... That was really bad and the funeral was on Friday.“

“My manager told me: ‚You are lucky you want to leave as otherwise we would have to fire you. You go to church and send your children to religious classes. You can work but not in the state administration.‘ The husband was transferred to Židlochovice. We lived there and I got a job of the director´s secretary. My husband commuted to Brno. In Židlochovice we got a flat and I was working at the forestry. Many people from Prague used to come there; the communists held their reunions and often went to the forests. They were quite privileged in all areas and allowed to do much. That was the truth, not a secret.“