Margita Beranová

“So it was, that in the year 1948 the parents of my father left, as they were both Czech. So they went exactly to those countries. And right in front of that village there were barriers. Here was the Sudetenland and there was the Protectorate. So I used to meet up my granny and grandpa at the bars. I was standing on one side and granny and grandpa on the other side and we had a chat over the bars in fact.”

“Well that´s what I wanted to say. The Russians went to work under supervision, there were soldiers. But the French did not, they went freely, they could come in as they liked. And they also, when an air raid was announced, they ran out in the forests. And the night of 20th April, 1945they also ran outside and we wanted to do the same. But then the sirens in the station announced it was over and nothing was going to happen. So we came back. But those French... We returned and looked out of the window and they were throwing down small trees, it was called like that, it was lighting up places, where to throw bombs. And the air raid was targeting Poldovka and the railways and Chomutov was a large crossroads at the time. As we ran down the cellar fast. We only had our door blasted out, all windows broken under pressure as the bombs were falling. But many French were still on their way back and they got killed there.”