Jaroslav Hocký

"Vehicles kept driving through Rumburk for several days, crossing over. I know the factory didn't work. There were meetings and debates and petitions were written demanding that they leave and things like that, but it was all pointless. I remember one thing. I had this co-worker, Josef Jelínek. He's no longer alive, so I can say it now. We were looking out of a window at Desta at the main road. He was shaking his fist at them: 'You occupiers!' Then the motorcade suddendly stopped and he got scared. He was brave at first, but then he got scared and ran away to the tool shop at the opposite end of the factory and asked Bořek Halík to hide him from the Russians chasing him. They weren't chasing him at all - they had to stop because there is a railway, a train was coming and the gates were closed. They were used to being shaken fists and cursed at. It was no reason for them to stop. Then we used to make fun of Josef. We said, 'You broke the indoor record running away from the Russians!"

"They ran away through the burning streets [of Dresden]. He said the wind was so strong - the fire was sucking the air in from the streets as it burned - that people had to hold on to something to avoid getting sucked into the fire. They ran past a water tank and jumped inside from the heat. The problem was they couldn't get out. The edge was maybe a meter or more above the surface, and virtually everybody drowned in there. I also remember him telling me they went out into the street, and there was a lion standing there. The zoo was also hit and the animals escaped. The lion came out of the zoo and people were scared, but it was seeking people because it was scared too. There was fire everywhere, so it sought refuge with people, but everybody was running away."