Jaruše Glosová

“I went on and another watch stopped me, telling me that I have to go around the Vinohrady Theatre, that they cannot let me to the Slezská Street directly. I obediently walked to Římská Street and there I saw the first casualties, wounded people on stretchers being brought to a first aid station which was nearby. I passed to the Slezská street which was a bit wider in that place, effectively creating a small square. And even today, I cannot talk about this without trembling. A terrible theatre was to be seen there. A house was on fire, heaps of rubble on the ground, the wounded, the dead. Even a dead horse. At such a moment, one totally loses the ground under one’s feet. You don’t know what to do, do you help, do you fight the fire, do you run to look to see whether your house is still standing? I went on. Even today, I hear the sound of glass cracking under my feet because naturally, all the windows were smashed.”

“And then the 15th of March of 1939 came. I remember it very vividly. In the morning, I went to school as usual, at that time, I went to school in Mikulandská Street, that’s a small alley next to the Národní Boulevard. And there, Miss sent us home in the middle of the classes. I went to Národní to a tram stop where I would get on my tram normally but the trams did not go. The pavements were full of people and the German army poured down the Národní Boulevard I stood among the people and observed the German soldiers which allegedly went to barracks, I don’t know which ones. And what clung to my memory were two things. I did not notice the armoured vehicles that much but rather the rows of motorbikes with sidecars, three soldiers on each. Frozen to the bone because the weather was awful, snow and sleet. And what surprised me most were the people watching, men, some shook their fists and some cried. And those who cried surprised me most because they showed what horrors are awaiting us.”