Aloisie Víchová

“I have such bad memories of those events. It was on 15 March, 1939. Our cottage was at the road and I remember that there was dark all of the sudden, much snow and wind and they came banging on our doors. Their horses went in the coats, on the motorbikes, all was gloomy. The Germans were occupying us and I remember the bad weather. The wind was blowing and the snow was all over them, so they stopped in the street and went hiding wherever they could. And the boys, who were quite normal with their helmets, were sitting under the cover, but the lieutenant wanted to go inside the kitchen. And I remember my mum was frying something. And when she saw those frozen soldiers under the cover, as the lieutenant sat at the table, but my mum went to those young boys, who obviously did not thing the war will last for six years. Later they said: ‚You were the hero, girl, they could have done…´But the poor boys did not even know where they were. Like the Soviets arriving in 1968. They were standing on the crossroads staring at us like stupid. I was there with my husband hugging our little girl and they were asking, where they were. Well in Czechoslovakia, so that you boys know now.”

“Some prisoners got evacuated. And in Hodonín were two bridges, iron overpasses. In Mutěnka and in armature and brick factory. For Mutěnice you had to change in Hodonín as we could not go to Břeclav. The roads were closed all the way to Zaječí. Water was drained to locomotives, those were steam locomotives. There was a special pump under the bridge, you could turn it and drain the water right into the locomotive. So they had to stop the transport in Hodonín. It was cold, freezing to bits and I saw… those prisoners in open wagons , some of them had the stripy hat up on their head, some of them had none, just shaven heads and they were staring at us up on the bridge and we stared back, and I will never forget those eyes. Poor, painful and probably thirsty. As there were bars in the wagons, they were licking them. And I had bread in my bag, that I threw them and imagine they were guarding it and my mum cried at me back home: ‚If they had seen you, they would have shot you dead.‘ And I replied: ‚Mum, they were thirsty…‘ Well a kid of thirteen years did not figure that I could not do such a thing. And they were beating them with their gun-stocks… when I saw them standing, as they did not give any water to the prisoners, I was totally flabbergasted. Some wagons were covered, some had no roof. As I said, I will never forget those eyes.”