Josef Petýrek

Mr. Petýrek remembers the recollections of a forester who used to work in Slovakia. But after March 14, 1939, when the independent Slovak national state was created, the aversions of the Slovaks towards the Czechs came to a head and things became tense there. The Czechs had to leave the country immediately to save their lives. "At night the local gendarmes came to their place and said: 'you have to leave right now. The Slovaks are loose'. So he had to take Liduška in his arms, Pepík by his hand, his rifle on his shoulder and they fled, leaving everything behind, even their hens and rabbits."

"The old man, Gažák, may he rest in peace, said: 'The war came to an end and they were told in Romania – all of you can go where you want. So they went to see the old gipsy and asked him – gipsy, you know the world best of all. Tell us where is the best place to live. And he told them – On Bohemia'. So they went to Bohemia."

"These people were true gold diggers who came to plunder and loot. I used to know one family from the Příbramsko region. They hung a bread crust on the chandelier and fought for it. He would come to the borderlands and six months later, he came back with his car loaded up to the roof. He brought back four motorcycles, all sorts of furniture and lots of other stuff. He stole all of this from the former houses of the Germans. They had to leave everything behind. The people left with 50 kilos of their belongings and had to leave the rest there."

"I went back home. At Glaserwald ,Stop – shooting‘. Allegedly some night-time shooting exercise. It would last until 2 or 3 o'clock in the night. So I took a detour, a shortcut, and stopped at the end of the forest. They had their targets stuck in the surroundings of the road. The silence there was beautiful. Then I started the engine and floored it. As soon as I did that the idiots started opened fire. I got very sweaty – even on my tie. But I made it through."