Milan Knížátko

"Ficht died when we went to Krumlov through the forest. We saw a smoke, fire. There were German soldiers all around. Then there was a gunfight between us and the soldiers, but they outnumbered us and had better guns, so we had to pull away. Then we sent a message to Ivančice, and reinforcements came, but in the meantime the Germans packed up and left."

"They took them to Ivančice. There was a prison so they took them there. There were three or four not very good guards. There was a brickyard and they took the prisoners behind the brickyard and shot them there. They did what was done to them."

"Executions were another thing. We were a detached detachment in Hostěradice. The war was over and the German villages were occupied. The order was for everyone, who had weapons at home, to hand them over. There was a pub, where we, as partisans, stayed. So they bought all the weapons there and then we went to search houses. We search also in straw piles. There were two Russians with us in Hostěradice. And one of them had a sword, so he stuck it in the straw and found a flint. And then, as a warning, they sentenced the man to death. He was German and he was the mayor of the village. The Russians were tough guys. They hanged him. At least they wanted to hang him, but the rope broke with him because he was a big heavy man. So then the Russian shot him dead."

"We played hide-and-seek with those German boys in the village. And when it was occupied, there was a high wall in the yard on the outside, only about a meter on the inside. So when we were with the German boys, they called us, 'Böhmische Hund,' a Czech dog. We were with the Kovář boys, they were four kids. So I couldn't stay behind, so I shouted, "Deutsche Sau," a German pig. Then at home, my father scolded me for saying these words. And when I went shopping, we had a St. Bernard dog, a big one. I couldn't walk by myself, so I took him. The boys would have beaten me otherwise. So this dog – he was called Baryk – he would come with me to the store, waiting at the door. When I was done shopping, he'd walk me back home. And they didn't come near because I would say, 'Baryk, get them!' And he would chase them off. So they let me be."