Dr. Manfred Frey

"In 1992 the former displaced inhabitants of Jaroslavice donated new church bells. The displaced inhabitants of Jaroslavice bought two church bells in Tyrol because the church bells from Jaroslavice were confiscated by the German Wehrmacht and melted down for weapons. Jaroslavice was thus left without church bells. The displaced inhabitants of Jaroslavice organised a collection and paid for two church bells. These were then transported from Tyrol to Jaroslavice. On September 2, 1992, they were consecrated in the main square in Jaroslavice by the Bishop of Brno named Cikrle. The consecration took place on Saturday, and on Sunday a Holy Mass was held in Jaroslavice. The Cardinal of Vienna came there specially, because I knew him, to celebrate the mass. It was a great event."

"The third experience was very dramatic. My father was a hunter, and when the Czechs took over our farm and also the brickworks, it was obligatory to hand over the weapons. However, my mother couldn't find the hunting guns, so she couldn't hand them in. Someone had to report that my father was a hunter and that he should have had weapons. Subsequently, we were searched by five Czechs and two Russians. The night before, my mother had been warned that the search would take place the next day. The Czech customs officers who had left Jaroslavice in 1938 had always bought food from our mother, because our farm was right in front of the customs office. These customs officers returned and one of them warned my mother that the next day there would be a search and they would be looking for weapons. My mother searched the house all night but found no weapons, only ammunition. She threw it outside later that night. The next day the Czechs and Russians came to search the house. I still remember it well: we were standing in the hallway, the whole family, my mother and us three children. A Czech partisan was guarding us. I remember that he had a rifle slung over his shoulder, and he looked awfully big to me. In my memory he is still huge. The psychologist later explained to me that as a child I had felt my mother's danger and unease, and therefore the Czech partisan seemed to me as a child to be a great danger, he seemed over two metres tall. It was the fear of a five-year-old child."