Aloisie Víchová

* 1931

  • “And you know, why Hodonín got bombed? Not really for the objects, there was nothing produced there, what would help the partisans. There is a sugar refinery and chocolate and such… My husband used to be in the guarding house related to the railways. And on 20 November, 1944 a train stopped there. They went on moving to the front. And the Germans as they saw the English plains above [royal air force], they began shooting at them using machine guns. Well they probably saw the clouds… flying high up. They were flying and as they began shooting they moved into a kind of a cross, my mum was watching that apparently, and as they were flying into the cross they threw it down. Nothing got destroyed, only the chocolate factory and the sugar refinery surroundings and civic houses. Many civilians died there. And I do remember the bombing as in the school… we were left out as the sirens went on. And me being curious, instead of catching a train, I went to have a look… but when it began to explode, I was just at the refinery and it was the worst there. And as I got to… you know there was a Jewish cemetery and behind the wall four of us were hiding. At five there was a guard driving by and shouting: ‚Anybody alive? Is there anyone?‘ So we got up and crawled up on the carriage. I was black and my clothes were in pieces, they drove me at five in the evening. It felt to me like a train coming above our head, there was a terrible sound. But they were throwing time bombs too, that kept blasting all the time.”

  • “I have such bad memories of those events. It was on 15 March, 1939. Our cottage was at the road and I remember that there was dark all of the sudden, much snow and wind and they came banging on our doors. Their horses went in the coats, on the motorbikes, all was gloomy. The Germans were occupying us and I remember the bad weather. The wind was blowing and the snow was all over them, so they stopped in the street and went hiding wherever they could. And the boys, who were quite normal with their helmets, were sitting under the cover, but the lieutenant wanted to go inside the kitchen. And I remember my mum was frying something. And when she saw those frozen soldiers under the cover, as the lieutenant sat at the table, but my mum went to those young boys, who obviously did not thing the war will last for six years. Later they said: ‚You were the hero, girl, they could have done…´But the poor boys did not even know where they were. Like the Soviets arriving in 1968. They were standing on the crossroads staring at us like stupid. I was there with my husband hugging our little girl and they were asking, where they were. Well in Czechoslovakia, so that you boys know now.”

  • “Some prisoners got evacuated. And in Hodonín were two bridges, iron overpasses. In Mutěnka and in armature and brick factory. For Mutěnice you had to change in Hodonín as we could not go to Břeclav. The roads were closed all the way to Zaječí. Water was drained to locomotives, those were steam locomotives. There was a special pump under the bridge, you could turn it and drain the water right into the locomotive. So they had to stop the transport in Hodonín. It was cold, freezing to bits and I saw… those prisoners in open wagons , some of them had the stripy hat up on their head, some of them had none, just shaven heads and they were staring at us up on the bridge and we stared back, and I will never forget those eyes. Poor, painful and probably thirsty. As there were bars in the wagons, they were licking them. And I had bread in my bag, that I threw them and imagine they were guarding it and my mum cried at me back home: ‚If they had seen you, they would have shot you dead.‘ And I replied: ‚Mum, they were thirsty…‘ Well a kid of thirteen years did not figure that I could not do such a thing. And they were beating them with their gun-stocks… when I saw them standing, as they did not give any water to the prisoners, I was totally flabbergasted. Some wagons were covered, some had no roof. As I said, I will never forget those eyes.”

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    Lužice, 14.06.2018

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    duration: 05:17:29
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Life is terribly complicated, but you have to live it anyway

1949 - Aloisie in traditional costume, original photo
1949 - Aloisie in traditional costume, original photo
photo: archiv pamětnice

Aloisie Víchová, née Vlašinská, was born on 28 January, 1931 in Lužice near Hodonín. She began attending the grammar school in 1937 and four years later she changed to bourgeois school in Hodonín. In March 1939 she experienced the occupation of Lužice, the German soldiers were hiding in their house against the show storm. In November 1944 witness heavy bombing of Hodonín. She witnessed many local events of WW2 - food checks, concentration camp prisoner transportation, removal of citizens of German origin, or moving of the war front. In 1946 she started working in Baťa´s factory in Zlín, from where she moved to the company Igla in Lužice, where she worked until retirement. The witness was an active member of Sokol. In 1953 joined the communist party and sang in the company choir. In 1952 won the third place with Igla´s Four in the competition of folk creativity in Strážnice. In Igla she worked until retirement. She lives amongst her wide family and friends in Lužice.