Božena Klusáková

“I didn’t find out why they’d arrested them until after the war. We weren’t told why they were [in custody]. The Gestapo came one day, no questions were asked. You’re guilty, you’re not guilty. When something was reported, they went. It wasn’t until after the war that we found out that my parents had listened to overseas [foreign broadcasts - ed.]. If you could, you listened to England, Free Europe [sic]. They were told on by a neighbour - a Czech, a Flagger.”

“The Russian soldiers were mostly young boys, eighteen, perhaps twenty years old. The youngsters were very active. There were cars [in Čáslav] that didn’t work any more. The Germans parked them off on the side streets. The Russians got into every car, they had a lot of keys. And they didn’t leave off until they’d repaired it. We said: ‘There’re four or so Germans over there. And they’re coming to get you right now.’ One young Russian said: ‘Nas mnogo.’ They didn’t care one bit, they had courage alright.”