Milena Hradecká

"The third part - that was us as families of artisans and so on, that was in March 1947. We ended up packing up, everything was fine, abandoned, we had to leave the dog and the canary behind, we said goodbye, arrived at the station and again the train was nowhere to be found. We still had to come back, it was delayed for 14 days. We had to go back, but we had already handed over the house, there were Polish neighbours. We moved in, which was rented to us by friends of Mum and Dad, Mr and Mrs Kadeřábek, they reserved a room for us for 14 days, that we were still staying there. Finally we boarded the cattle cars, we had a very nice time. There were four families there, neat sleeping arrangements from the luggage, a table, a small stone, chairs, it was quite nice. Before that, mum started frying the schnitzels, dad was frying so that we would have sustenance for 14 days, he took care of the wooden trunks, crates, wicker baskets. It was covered with lard to preserve it, to keep it from spoiling, the meat was all covered with lard in buckets. We weren't starving, we were fine. We also had experiences where the train stopped and they said, 'We're going to stand here for three hours.' Dad took buckets, he would go to the nearby buildings to get water. And there was still a dachshund, a little dog, they went to walk him. So the little dog was running around all over the place, and suddenly the whistle blew, soldiers immediately, close - and dad was nowhere. And the train was moving. Dad, when he saw this, threw away the buckets of water, ran, ran as fast as he could and grabbed the last carriage. We were shivering with terror, especially mom. We couldn't imagine the horror if he was left destitute and without papers somewhere. Gradually he crossed, there were wagons with horses, he had to wait for them to stop somewhere so he could cross. The reunion was beautiful, but the dachshund never came back, he was mourned, he stayed somewhere. Those were such sad moments."