Berta Růžičková

“Well, when they had to be deported, the people were notified. They were mostly women with children, because most of the men were in the military, and so those who received the deportation orders were largely women. The deportation order stated the date and place. A wagon arrived to the village and they took them to Sokolov to the assembly camp. In the deportation order they were also instructed that they had to leave everything in order, everything had to be clean, the house had to be cleaned and locked and they had to hand over the keys to the administration office. And the people then arrived to the assembly camp and they spent about three or four days there, until a certain number of people gathered there, and then they boarded trains and they were taken away.”

“The youngest sister of my mother was there. She had a baby in her arms and she had two more boys; she had three children. She was to be deported, too, and the assembly camp was located in the place of the central school in Sokolov. It is the central school, I attended the higher elementary school there. And she was upstairs on the second floor and I was speaking to her from the ground. There were guards, soldiers, in front to the gate. They said something, but I did not understand. They were saying something, and I was not even listening. There were no other people, only I was there, speaking with my aunt. And suddenly the guards came to me and I had to go with him and he led me to the kitchen there and I had to peel potatoes there. About two hours later, I don’t know, I don’t remember anymore how long it took, but it was about two hours, and then they let me go again. I was made to do something because I didn’t obey them. I had to work as a punishment for it. But he knew very well that I did not understand him.”