Rostislav Čapek

„Chodil jsem s jeho dcerou, my jsme vyrůstali vedle sebe. Začínalo to s ním být vážné, že půjde k soudu a že nebude propuštěný. Na ni bylo poukazováno, že je dcera spolupracovníka s Němci a já byl přesvědčený, že není. Rozhodl jsem se, že než ji nechat vláčet, tak požádám o její ruku její maminku. Šel jsem požádat o požehnání i jejího tátu Bedřicha Hodulíka do věznice. Tehdy ho přivedli v papučích, nohy nateklé, klepeta na rukou. Dal nám požehnání v klepetech. Později mi přiznal, že přišel v papučích, protože nemohl chodit a byl po výprasku. Řezali ho přes chodidla pendrekem. Vzal jsem si jeho dceru, musela si dokoupit šest dní, protože nebyla zletilá. Žili jsme spolu šedesát jedna roků, měli jsme dvě děti, byli jsme šťastní a spokojení. Jenomže bohužel ta otázka Zákřova se pořád vracela, různými řečmi a narážkami. Nakonec moje manželka ani nebyla puštěná k maturitě.“

„To byla další várka Němců, která k nám přišla, mladí esesáci, bylo jich pět. Přišli v noci, vyházeli nás z postelí a my jsme šli spát na seno. Ráno veliký kravál. Táta, starší bratr a já jsme se museli postavit ke zdi. Jeden na nás mířil samopalem. Matka uměla německy, tak se s nimi bavila. Taky ji chtěli postavit ke zdi, ale ona se nenechala a začala na ně ostře mluvit, co chtějí. ‚Ztratila se pistole.‘ Tak se hledalo, hledalo. Oni v noci přišli hrozným způsobem opilí, padali. Když už nevěděli, kde mají hledat, matka si vzala štokrle a stoupla na kredenc. Za kredencem byla akorát přezka od opasku a pistole visela za tou skříní. Byla to náhoda, že zahlédla tu přezku. Něco zabrblali, sebrali pistoli a šli. Bylo to skutečně nepříjemné, nevěděli jsme, co bude dál.“

“We had weapons in that quarry, for some time, and it was already quite late, in April probably…” – “April 1945?” – “1945, in March or April. A German airplane was flying over us at that time. It was a six-engine Dakota. A cargo plane and it was flying very low and it made an awful noise. It was so loud. We were friends with Drahoš Veselský at that time. His grandpa was the mayor of Tršice. And he was there with me. We thought, what could such a small bullet from the rifle do to such an airplane. And when one day the plane was flying over again, we shot at it, five rounds each. But what was horrible was that the following day in the morning some of the German armed forces arrived there on BMW motorcycles – one motorcycle had a radio transmitter and the other had a submachine gun – to the mayor because somebody from the area had shot at the airplane. And if there were partisans or something like that, they had to investigate it. Two trucks full of Germans arrived there and they were combing the area. When we fired from the rifle, nothing happened. We took our stuff and we went home. Nothing happened. But when they came to the mayor to investigate it… that somebody from the area had been shooting at an airplane, that the plane got hit eight times and that one of the pilots was injured in his leg, shot through his leg or something, I don’t know. So when Drahoš learnt about it, obviously he literally started shaking with fear. What if we had shot him, and so on. We were terribly scared.”

“But then came the third group of Germans, who were from the Gestapo. They were young boys and there were six of them and they were horribly drunk. They came around eleven in the evening and they made us get out from our beds and we had to go in the attic again. That would not be so bad. The hay in the attic was comfortable for sleeping. But they went wild, they continued drinking and then they went to sleep. And there was a great problem in the morning. They made me, my dad and my older brother stand against the wall. All of a sudden we noticed that they were standing behind us with a submachine gun. My mom could speak German and she started asking them what was going on. They told her that a belt with a gun got lost. My mom said: ‘I will help you look for it.’ They were searching and searching for the gun. But when they came in drunk, they tossed their stuff all over the place and they did not know where they had left it. They were searching all over the room. And by coincidence, some fifteen minutes later at least, my mom stepped up on a stool and she looked at the kitchen cupboard. And the gun had been thrown behind the cupboard, only the belt buckle was hanging from the top. Fortunately she saw it. She pulled it out and she gave it to them. He let us go. But at that time we were really afraid that he would shoot us or do something to us. A gun was lost, and there could be trouble.”

“Our troop was stationed further away. There were only two border crossings in our section. But unfortunately, one of them [escape over the border] were four young boys. They were armed but they did not know how to handle the gun. What they did was that they crossed over to East Germany, from East Germany they crossed to West Germany and from West Germany they came to us. What was funny was that instead of going where they wanted they came back to Czechoslovakia again. Regarding the second escape, he got caught. But I was not there, I was off duty when they caught him. He was an employee of some bank. He carried one million Czech crowns with him. It was at the time of the currency reform. I don’t know why he took the money, if he hoped to exchange it somewhere in Germany. He was caught at that time. He was scared because he did not know precisely where the border line was, either. He walked half a kilometre from the border line and he did not know where to go. A dog sniffed him by chance and they caught him during the day. But apart from that it was quite calm there. I used to go behind the line a lot. There was a patrol which was allowed to go there… From time to time I was taking our special agents there. They were crossing over to Germany and eliminating our people there when it was possible. They were our gunners so to speak. But I didn’t like them at all. They were a strange lot. They always played with their guns. I would guide them all the way to the border line at midnight or at two o’clock in the morning and a car would arrive there to pick them up. Somewhere to the road bend near Faßmannsreuth and they would get in the car there and they took them to some place.”