Eva Václavková

“The Russians would come to the castle and they would start to make a mess of it. They would throw furniture and other things from the front side which today no longer exists. After that, three women would pass our gate, carrying a huge Persian carpet. And it was too heavy for one of them. Later, they would probably cut it so it would fit into these little cottages of theirs. And they would say: 'Come on, Milka, go get some! Russkies are throwing things out of the windows.' And my mother would lament and say:' For God´s sake, people, we would have to give it back!' She had no idea that after that, something more would happen.”

“A map would show up regularly on our cupboard during the Reich. Since then, I just love maps. I knew exactly how the armies would advance from Stalingrad. Maybe I shouldn´t have known that as a child, but most of the times I would just happen to be there. Every time, they would unroll a huge map on the cupboard, they would weight it down by something, and standing over it, they would show how the battle lines were advancing. And my father would be bragging about him knowing all the rivers of Siberia.”