Helena Šilhanová

“Well, of course, it was terrible dangerous, you weren’t allowed to do that. Czechs were very resentful of them back then, six years of war, some people had had it rough... I was sorry for her, I was sorry for the baby, I wanted to help her out. So I really did find the picture, the money was there, in marks. And so I reckoned: ‘I’ll go visit her, and I’ll see how it works out.’ I took the money and went into the camp again. And they asked: ‘What’re you doing here again?’ I said: ‘I’m visiting again.’ ‘Do you know you’re not allowed here?’ ‘Yeah, I know, I’m going to check on the baby.’ I met up with the lady and brought her the money. She had the baby with her, of course, she put the marks into the swaddling clothes next to the baby. So at least she had something to start out with, in Germany, a bit of money at least. That was my girlish experience that not all Germans were evil.”

“The worst was when the first bombing came. We didn’t know they would begin bombing us. Little planes flew overhead, we watched them, and suddenly bombs started flying. We had to rush into the cellar; houses collapsed and people were stuck in the cellars, it didn’t kill them. That was towards the end of the war. I was so nervous that I slept with my clothes and shoes on because I wasn’t able to tie them up. We ran to the cellar and sat there until it was over.”