Miroslav Pospíšil

"It was the end of October and it was already cold when we were transported from Domašov nad Bystřicí. We went by train and we were met there by a truck from Libavá. The truck was open, it was cold out there and we didn’t even have proper clothing. We arrived to Libavá. Getting the uniforms was quite an experience. Some of them were still stained with blood. There were insignia with German Eagles on them, or there were English uniforms, too. We just picked whatever was available for us. And we didn’t have proper shoes, either. The clothing was terrible. And so was the housing, I still remember how cold it was. There were small barracks and some of them were still uninhabited, because we were the first group of soldiers there."

"We were in Rajhrad and there was a good company of university graduates and priests. We did have to attend political lectures, conducted for us by professors from the university or from the political college, but usually it turned out so bad for them that they didn’t even endure for the whole lesson. They would always say something and our priests or professors who were educated in these things as well would always beat them: ´But you’re wrong, what you are saying here is not true. You ought to read this or that about it.´"

"The Russians were approaching from Kamenička and the Germans were still on the hill on the other side. There was a gunfight. We arrived to Hostice to the other house and we wanted to hide in the shed there. At first we wanted to hide in the house, but the porch was closed. We noticed that they had some wooden boxes in the shed, and thus I and Mr. Mazák got in and covered ourselves with those boxes. As we were getting inside the shed we could already see the bullets bouncing back from the rooftop of Kubíček's house as they were shooting at it. We were covered by the boxes from the top, and on the side there was some wood stocked there and thus we could be sure that nothing would happen to us. If there was some rebound bullet we would still be protected by the boxes. Then the shooting stopped and we moved on. They had shot Mrs. Všetečková there before."

"I received the draft notice: Report immediately for a military exercise. My wife was due at that time, were expecting the birth of our second daughter. I told them that I could not go and leave her at home alone. They said that I needed to go to Šumperk to the army command and that they might hopefully let me go back immediately. And so I didn't even take my shaving kit or anything like that. I came to the command and I got yelled at terribly. By coincidence, the guy who was the commander there had lived in our house during the war after his marriage, and then in the 1950s he was promoted a major from a private. He yelled at me what the hell was I thinking: Once I was drafted to the army, there were no regards whatsoever. I should have taken all my necessary things with me, he shouted. He didn’t let me go home. At night we were transported in cars to Moravský Krumlov."