Miroslav Stárek

"Our troop commander, captain Lvovka called me and told me: ´You’ll go back and report you to the guard commander. Then you’ll tell him: ((You have to evacuate everything that we left behind like all supplies, components, all of the farming parts, all groceries, clothing, all the fuel right, evacuate everything. And if you won’t have time to do so, then burn it.))´ Now what? I walked those two and a half kilometers watching like everyone is on the run, everybody was leaving - only I was going back. It’s only me and the order. I arrived and reported myself to the commander. Then I gave him my weapon and we started to loading up everything we could so we could take it with us. Before the morning came we managed to evacuate everything. In the meantime the Red army bet back the attack and came at about 4.30am. Then captain Lvovka sent two of my friends to come and check where I was and if everything was Ok. Of course they found me, so I told them everything what happened. What can I tell you-we were all so happy to see each other again. After they came we talked for a while and then we all headed back to our troop."

"I didn’t have any problems with communist regime. I never talked bad about communists, because I thought about it as about the history of our country. I didn’t see it as some kind of phrase, or some kind of joke or anything. It was simply a process in our history, right. But I didn’t fancy the communists. I never fought against them, never became member of the communist party, never agreed with their laws. But I have never directly solicited against them."

"It was exactly in April of 1945, the beginning of April, when the Hungarian front hit us. We were backing off at that time. I never wish for anyone... to experience what is going on during the retreat. I don’t want anyone to tell me about some bravery or about some...it’s just complete mess. Nobody can imagine that. Bravery is that we fulfilled orders we were given, or being determinate for our thing. We were brave for not stepping back even if it meant to jeopardize our lives. But when the retreat comes, we have to go back to save ourselves so we’ll be able to go to the battle later again. You can’t even imagine how nervous and terrified we all were. General Klapálek was so right when he said after they asked him after the Velvet revolution (the contemporary is wrong, because General Klapálek died already in 1984 - editor’s note): ´And what about you, General, were you afraid or not? ´ He answered: ´I was afraid in deed. Everybody was.´"

"Our family business stopped existing due to a lack of supplies. Before the enrollment to the army they trained us how to operate the weapons, how to throw the grenade, how to dig the shelters etc. And it really paid off later to the many of us after we entered the Czechoslovak army." Why did you decided to join the Czechoslovak army? "It was not only me, but all of us - the Volhynia Czechs - who decided to enter the Czechoslovak army. There was 45 thousands of Volhynia Czech living in Ukraine or Poland. We all, all of us who managed to hold the gun, wanted to revenge for the Hitler’s Nazism and the Germans for what they have done in 1943 in our country. We also have our ´Volhynia Lidice village´- Český Malín village, where 370 people died including children."