Hana Pardubová

"I see my crying mother who took me by the hand and led me to Příkopy, which was the closest lively street to see the Germans coming. And the people there were crying, standing on the sidewalk, and the Germans were waving white scarves over there by the German house and shouting: 'Glory!' And at the other end, towards Műstek, there was also a group of Germans who welcomed the German soldiers and they mostly rode motorcycles with sidecars or in cars full of soldiers. And do you know that at that time they told terribly Polish jokes? Always - as a Pole would say, how do you say 'the German army'? So, the answer was: 'Circus plechowy' (tin circus) and the like."

"Then came the second one I remember, she was called Gustl. She was from a fascist family. Her father was a head teacher somewhere in Planá near Mariánské lázně and he had several other sons, and they were fascists, followers of Hitler. Gustl was also a supporter of Hitler. My mom, who was a Democrat, couldn't stand her. They argued with each other. I heard it, the arguments. Gustl was very aggressive, she was such a Nazi, she only recognized the Nordic race like Hitler, and I had black hair and pigtails. And when she was supposed to comb my hair, she showed her distaste for my hair. That if I had blonde hair, that it would be better, black hair, that she doesn't like it, that it disgusts her."

"Mrs. Masaryk, when they lived there in Podlesi near Valasske Mezirici and she was supposed to come back from vacation, suffered one of her I would say attacks, she suffered from heart disease and couldn't leave. The furniture was already moved out of the room. Masaryk solved it. He brought one straw mattress for himself, one straw mattress for aunts who helped with moving and Mrs. Masaryk still had a bed there, and so they lasted the last night. In the morning, the housewife brought real coffee and cream for the nobility and milk and some coffee substitute for the maids. Mrs. Masaryk got very mad and put all together, and so it was and she wanted it. Because it wasn't possible for the maids to have anything other than nobility."

"I recall that I was grateful to my aunt as she was telling me from time to time so much about the Masaryk family and talked about them with a great respect, as did my father. We all liked Mrs. Masaryk very much and considered her a real lady who never slandered anyone, wished everyone all the good, tried to help everyone and comply with anything. And I would say she did not deserve her unfortunate fate. She lost her beloved son Herbert and she was in a very difficult situation during the was when her daughter Elis was arrested, she was in danger of being executed and her son Jan was a soldier and in danger of dying in the front line. And Olga, the fourth member of the family, was abroad with Professor Masaryk, and Mrs. Masaryková had no news about them. She didn't even want to have any news, because she was constantly questioned by the Austrian authorities."