Oldřich Lachmann

“In Brandýs I experienced one of the most terrifying moments, when I was present at the trial with the citizens of Kochánky, all thirteen people. The Germans called them from all schools, offices and factories to get on a bus at twelve o´clock at noon in Brandýs and here in Mělník and in Lysá in the regional towns. But no one knew where they were going. And Mr. director in Brandýs was so unhappy. He called us during the break as white as snow announcing he was called from the region centre and the German head officer orders ordered someone from each school gets on a bus and they would be checking it. So there was a major silence, as this was the time after the Lidice events and every second day there was a red poster in Czech and German, who the names of those who were executed or shot for any kind of collaboration with the Germans. And those were the people tried here near Benátek somewhere there near Dražice in a large room. If it was a former mill or something, but simply made up large room it was. In the back there was a wooden bit and in the front a kind of a department, where the defenders wearing black cloaks were sitting and in front a judge in the German uniform and they were bringing those people, who confirmed they gave food and clothing and other kind of support to a capture. So these were actions against the German Reich. So all of them got sentenced to death penalty. Ordinary village folk. And it all began so that one of them was ploughing the field with his cows nearby the woods and stopped to take a rest, took out two slices of bread out of his pocket as they used to do. And from the forest a weary man came out and said in Russian: I am Russian, and have no money nor food nor clothing. So he gave him his bread and said: Your shoes are terribly worn out, I will come here tomorrow and bring you a pair and he said that to his wife back home and to his neighbours. And one of them gave him the shoes, the baker sent a loaf of bread and this way they took part. That was their terrible crime for which they got sentenced to death. And there was a woman, highly pregnant one. That was a wife of one of those men and she got executed and only her husband was not, probably out of the judge´s spite as he sent the mother and her unborn child to death…”