Kateřina Večeřová

"Naproti kinu Oko byla vyšetřovna a posléze zase na nynější Lidické ulici je velká robotárna. A tam vlastně už byli další vězni, třeba několik roků, taky vlastně proti zřízení, kteří byli třeba, já nevím... Jeden pán přišel rok po osvobození odněkud z Kocandy, to je už vlastně, jak se jede na Čechy, a vyprávěl nám, že strýc mu vlastně zachránil život. Už byl vězněný tři léta, oni tři dostávali...no mlátili je strašně obušky, vytahovali za ruce, ta kladka je tam dodnes zdokumentovaná. A když nosili splašky ven na dvůr, tak strýc, protože maminka okamžitě podplatila dozorce a posílala mu potají takové věci, samozřejmě, že ne chleba, ale trvanlivé - uzené nebo salámy vyuzené. A on se s ním právě dělil, hodil to do těch pomejí, vyměnili si kýbly a tím mu vlastně pomohl, že se mohl najíst. I tak byl nervově úplně vyšinutý, chlapec."

"Strýc přišel jednou pozdě večer ze zemědělské schůze, to bylo ten den zatčení, že. Maminka už spala, já taky, ve vedlejší místnosti. Měli jsme velký pokoj a strýc měl menší pokoj za námi, a protože my jsme byli blíž tomu oknu, na které zaklepal pan František Kovář, jeden z těch bratrů, a úplně klidným hlasem říkal: 'Paní Jurková, nezlobte se, ale já nutně potřebuju mluvit s Mirem'. Tak maminka nic netušíc otevřela, na ni se vyvalila horda vojáků i gestapáků a s bajonety ji hnala špalírem přes tu dlouhou kuchyni. Mě tam jeden držel, já jsem plakala, to je jasné, že, protože jsem byla rozespalá. No a strýc se musel rychle ustrojit a odvedli ho v poutech."

"My uncle bought two beautiful foals, they were the pride and joy of the village. All black, but one had a bald spot. We called one of them Vrána (Crow) and the other Kača (Kate), the one with the bald spot. He bought them, I don't know what year. They would learn to walk alongside older horses, but they didn't work yet. Now, the Russian military commander came and said he wanted our foals. The parish priest took him to the parsonage and tried to talk him out of it, saying that they were not yet fit to work. No, he said, he wanted to ride around in his carriage. So they got them. When he finally wore them all down, riding around the vicinity drunk all the time, he shot them and went to get some other horses, just not from us anymore."

"He was an Englishman and [my uncle] hid him in a barn where we used to go to collect eggs every day, go swinging on this chain swing, and we just went to that barn all the time. The man must have been awfully nervous about all of us going in there. We'd go in there to get straw, store something in there, and make a fodder mix for the poultry and the pigs in this machine. My uncle would bring him food and drinks secretly. He likely only came out at night, that's for sure; nobody knew, not even my mother. Eventually he managed to get him to safety. I don't know, likely to the partisans, who then sent him on. It was impossible to talk about it."

"My mother and I slept in the sitting room, and my uncle had a room past the kitchen. He had been to a farmers' meeting, and right after he went to bed, there was a banging on the kitchen window. My mother heard it, she opened it and said, 'What's going on?' [Neighbour] František Kovář said, 'Don't worry, Ms Jurková, that's me, Franta Kovář. I just need to speak with Miro.' She answered the door, a horde of Gestapo men and soldiers rushed in, turned my mother around, and had her walk through the line of soldiers to uncle's room. I was crying on one side, not allowed to go near her; one of them held me. They waited for him to get dressed, and then they arrested him. Then when they arrested [Wilhelm Prellberg], my mother could tell [my uncle] just by the hat he had on..."