Zdeněk Hlačík

"When retreating, the Germans had to stop for the night so they could go on again, or even defend themselves. They were not staying with us, but our yard was large, so they moved in and put guns in the street. My father was so afraid because there was one gun in front of the house, and should the Soviets start attacking, something might happen. But then they packed it up and left again. As the Germans were about to leave, there was a horse lying in front of the house that was so tired it couldn't go on. A German soldier pulled out a pistol and wanted to shoot it. I saw this and turned to my father. He didn't speak German, but he had cigarettes in his pocket, so he offered them to the German. The guy took them, waved his hand and left, leaving the horse alone. We brought it to our yard and took care of it. We had it for maybe a year and then we had to return it to the army as spoils of war."

"My first memory is my father leaving with a brown suitcase and my mother crying hard. It was the mobilisation [1938]. He told me he was in Frývaldov, that's Jeseník today. They were in forest dugouts on the Šerák hill. Then they went back home and my sister was born in the meantime, before dad came back. My next memory is being at my grandmother's. It was snowing, it was this foggy weather, and a column of horse-drawn wagons with soldiers was going past the windows. They were Germans occupying us. I didn't know it at the time and I kept climbing on the window, and my grandmother kept pulling me back because she was scared."