Libuše Šedinová

“The year forty-four came, that was the Heydrich Repressions, and this one incident happened to me, that I was kidnapped. I was kidnapped by a seventeen-year-old girl. We left Vyškov, where I had been born, and she took me to Brno. She herself was not of age yet, and she was later sentenced to 2.5 years for the kidnapping. It must be said that it was during the Heydrich Repressions, in other words, everyone who accommodated us was basically risking being shot. When there was an air raid, the flats were empty, and we weren’t allowed into the cellar because we were not in evidence, so she had free reign then.”

“In Vyškov we lived in the hospital, which didn’t have a cellar where we could hide. Vyškov was declared a German city, there’s still a garrison there even today. So Vyškov got pretty blown up. Back in forty-four the Germans gave the order for the square - the displays - to be boarded up. But those last days, when the Germans were to be expelled, when they were to capitulate, the Germans themselves flew over Vyškov and dropped phosphorus bombs, so large parts of Vyškov burned to the ground. We fled from there to hide in a shelter, specifically, into the wine cellar under the parish house. And then came the liberation by the Soviet army. Except what happened was basically looting. We were also affected by it, because they entered the wine cellar, and people started taking wine up in baskets and drinking it, the soldiers that is. And girls, or young ladies, women, were asked to go peel spuds - that is, taters. Well, and various problems arose in consequence. So we formed a chain in that wine cellar, and bottles were broken and wine was poured into the drain...”