Marta Kondrčíková

“Because we heard the roar coming from the east. Near Chabry were Veltěže, Zdiby, Přemyšlení, Čakovice, Čimice, Bohnice, and other villages. From Veltěže and Zdiby, we heard the roar of tanks. Then they arrived in Chabry. Among them were Mongolians and members of various other nationalities. They waved at us. The whole town of Chabry was out on the streets; people were standing by the road, welcoming them. They threw us bacon, chocolate, and other things they’d taken from the Germans. They apologized for arriving in Prague later than expected because the Germans were still fighting them in the surrounding villages. That’s why they arrived later. They were throwing everything at us and then continued on toward Prague.”

“He was always running away from them and hiding. One day, a police officer came for him. There was a police station near us, and one morning, just before five o’clock, a police officer showed up. He was still wearing that long police officer’s coat and a tall helmet. He caught Dad at home. Dad didn’t have time to run away, so he said, ‘I’m just going to the toilet.’ Our toilet was across the entire hallway, right at the end of it. Dad went in there, and he always stayed in there a long time. Suddenly, the policeman said, ‘But Mr. Vocetka has been in there for quite a while.’ And Mum replied, “But he’s always in there that long.” Meanwhile, Dad had escaped through the gardens—through ours, then through the Máchas’ one, and through the neighbour’s one—and disappeared somewhere. Otherwise, he was hiding right in the rabbit hutch. He made a hiding place for himself in the little attic where the hay was stored. It never occurred to anyone that he might be hiding in the rabbit hutch, because it was quite large. That’s how he avoided being taken to the Reich.”

“Well, and then I remember the day of the revolution, when I was a little girl and took a shortcut to visit my Aunt Marta in Kobylisy. I walked from Chabry through the fields. I arrived at her house. She lived below Pelčák—that’s Pelcký Hill—and she and my uncle were getting ready to fight the Germans. They were looking for an axe so they could go after the Germans. So they made sure I found my way home somehow, and then my mum came to get me. She was worried about me, so my mum and I walked home again through the fields. We could already hear the bursts of gunfire and all that. We got home. We were staying with our lamdlords in their house, and in that house we had to go to the shelter. But we only had a basement there. So we went down to the basement. I was a little hungry at the time, so someone brought me some bread with mustard, and I ate it. In that basement, we had a small rectangular window looking out onto our street, which was called Osadní. And I was looking through that little window, through the glass, and I saw tall black boots walking by. The SS were patrolling our street, and no one was allowed outside. The Brázdas and the Pavlíks lived there. Their daughters were my friends. Mr. Brázda came out of the cellar—out of that hiding place—and he had a tricolor pin on his lapel. Mr. Pavlík did, too. And the Germans shot them. Later, we somehow found out that their bodies were lying there on the street. There was also a place by the main road called U kříže (At the Cross). A large cross with Jesus stood there, which is why the place was called U kříže. We used to go there to visit some friends of my mom and dad. Their last name was Věrnoch, and we called them uncle and aunt. And uncle Věrnoch was found there by the cross, stabbed and tortured to death by the Germans. So those were the three people I knew the Germans had killed there.”