Růžena Hrňová

„Actually, the Soviets were not bad people. It was not their fault, someone gave them orders and they had to go. Among them, there were those who saw that it had been a mistake, that this should not have happened. They told us themselves that they disagreed. But, orders are orders. The soldiers did not have much of a good time, though. When I worked at a kindergarten, there was a traffic guard at a crossroad. I went home from the kindergarten and he was sitting there, I was sorry for that boy. At home, I made sandwiches with lard and canned meat and tea with rum, and I brought it to him. He was grateful for that because he was still there and maybe the others forgot about him. I can tell you, in spring, I was doing an issue slip at work and that soldier boz came to say hello on the ocassion of the International Women’s Day. He was grateful to a human that had handed him that food.”

„My husband was the chairman of the citizens’ committee, I was the kindergarten headmistress. So they would invite us, for example when they held a celebration of the Great October Revolution, to the celebrations of the Great October Socialist Revolution, to their assembly building in Ploužnice. There were our people [i. e. Czechs] of all stations, music played, we danced. With Commander Švestková, we sang the peace song, ‚White dove, fly over us’. Then, we were like a family. At home, we had made sausages, salami, all made from a wild boar which my husband acquired as a forester. I had it in my bag, then I saw that the boys were playing all the time [in the band] and they had not eaten at all so I made a charcuterie platter and brought it to them. The boys were happy, they would then sound the horn whenever they drove around the kindergarten.” “Did you miss that [meat] later on?” “Yes, but they gave us stuff in exchange, red beet for the kindergarten, or cabbage. We made cabbage salad for the kids, they had healthy food, we saved the money and could afford to buy something else.” “How did it go when the Soviets were leaving at the end?” “The Soviets came to say their goodbyes. When they left, I did not send the children to bed, they waved at them. There is no hate. It was not their fault, they’re the same people as we are.”