Jiří Jaroš

"What was the end of the war like in Háj?" - "It was still burning there, it was still burning there. Háj - Chabičov was bombed here and there. But the worst thing was that we still had to bury soldiers afterwards, and the worst thing was the horses. The horses! Next to the horse we had to dig a hole, a big hole, so that the horse could get into it. And I still remember that the poor thing's legs were sticking out. So there was a man who cut the horses' legs off. That was the worst job at those years. So I remember it very well. That's something that everyone in Háj and Chabičov must know." - "And which soldiers did you bury?" - "Russian and German ones. And I buried them up there, as there were those... We were supposed to bring them down. We were supposed to draw the Soviet soldiers down, but we, as boys, threw them down, stripped them a little bit. Not a lot, but we stripped them - they had their shoes taken off, and then the Soviets confiscated everything we had in that trailer. I know that a man had a trailer in the garden. I remember that, as boys. I was fifteen years old."

"The worst thing was - we had to draw the Soviet soldiers to the church and bury the German ones there. And I regret one thing I am saying today. That when I buried the three German soldiers, I didn't take their tags from them. They had these tin tags that had numbers on them, and if I had had them, their family would have known where the boys were buried. And the Russians we were supposed to be drawn down too, but we were young boys. We were supposed to tie them down on tachkas [wheelbarrows], but we buried them on the spot too. And then, we had a trailer in the garden and there we had boots, guns, rifles. In that trailer. And then the Russians took it all from us when they were there. 'What's here? Are you Germans?' And they took it from us. And I saw one - he had three watches on one hand, three watches on the other hand - the Russians. And the best ones were the ones from the first convoy. I must admit, they were such poor people. And then there were others who were just taking. And I remember, I don't know exactly, but you can ask about it, it surely happened there. They shot a Moravian there, in Chabičov. He was dressed as a fireman, and the Russians thought he was a German, so they shot him. I remember that, as a young boy. And then they raped a girl and the guys caught him, the Russian, and they tore off all his clothes and shot him. I remember that too."