Alexandra Šmiřáková

"A classmate came to our house and said, 'Ali, do you have a radio?' I said, 'Why?' She said, 'Oh, never mind.' We went to school, she kept quiet. Then the girls got together and talked about something. I approached them and asked what they had heard and why this friend asked if we had a radio. "Is that a relative? This general?' I said, 'What happened?' They took out a newspaper and said, 'Look.' So I read, 'Traitor general sentenced to death by rope.' I fell down. I fell at school. That was my first year at the education school, and I wasn't allowed to study in Olomouc. And my brother wasn't admitted to the grammar school."

"Do you remember the moment when the bomb hit? Where were you and what were you doing at that moment?" - "In the kitchen. I was likely under the table. You have no idea of the shockwave that hits and you turn up somewhere and you don't know about it. That was totally surprising. We called each other, 'Where are you? Where are you? Milada, where are you?' We'd let each other know. We were all buried. We could hear cries coming from our neighbours'. He had boys there and they both got killed. I don't remember the neighbour's name. No one has any idea of how we were left completely destitute. We had no clothes, only what we were wearing. Dirty. They took us to a tobacco factory and gave us first aid. I wanted to help them. I was gonna help pull everybody out of the ruins. But when I stood up, I fell."