Miloslav Tlapák

“Nothing happened on May 8. My mum was scared, didn’t know where my father was, where they took him. She walked around Barrandov, asked people who were returning whether they knew something. She learned that in the Pod Habrovou street the Germans shot some people, and indeed, in that garage they shot four or six people. The bodies were no longer there but it was splashed with blood and it was ugly. She asked people who lived in that villa and they said that all shot bodies were taken to the church at Zlíchov. So we ran to Zlíchov and there my mum learned that my father was among those shot and his body was at Zlíchov. There were about thirty people who were shot in that part of Prague.”

“I remember, although the memories are vague, actors and others who arrived in the kitchen, as I was there often with my mum. Many actors and other important people, not just actors, use to come for recipes. They came to the kitchen, thanked for the delicious lunch and left some money, as it was something that was just done. Either to send money or to come in person to the kitchen, thank or ask for the recipe. In this it was nice.”

“On May 8, early in the morning, my dad returned from Prague, Lucerna, where he was with Havel all the time. It was 7 or 8, I can’t remember exactly, and someone rang a bell since the doors were locked. Someone called at the main gate and my dad said he would go and open. So he went, my mum told him not to go, but he did. And there were four German soldiers, three or four. I remember the moment when my mum shouted at him, ‘Jenda, don’t go with them, the war has ended.’ This stayed in my memory and it was the last time I saw him.”