Jiřina Straková

“The guerrillas were in the woods and we lived a little under the woods, so they were very close to us. That was a mistake. I was always sent to my uncle, my dad's brother, who lived further in the woods, about half an hour away. The only way there was through the forest. My mother always said: 'For God's sake, don't send my daughter there, they'll kill her.' So I used to go there as a guerilla and nothing ever happened. The guerrillas stayed even more at our uncle´s than in our country, because he lived entirely in the forest. They were close to the mountain, and every time I came, hurry, hurry away. The Germans did not go to the mountains. There they weren't sure if there was a guerrilla behind every tree.”

"Somebody reported us. We didn't know back then, but then we did. It was a normal morning. My mother milked cows and sent me to look at the goose that was supposed to be sitting on eggs to become goslings. I walked out of the barn and saw my dad standing there only in his shirt. There were Germans already. It was very cold. I said: 'Dad, you are cold. I'll just bring you a coat.' He just said,' Don't wear it, Jiřinka. It won't be cold much longer. They dug some explosives in our manure. I don't know where they got it. And somebody saw them and told us because the Germans went for sure.”