Božena Kopcová

“As late as in 1944 they deployed the group Spelter in Myslibořice. Their assignment was allegedly intelligence work. But this group was betrayed and they were overwhelmed by Germans. One of the paratroopers got killed near the gamekeeper’s lodge. The others saved themselves. And later they brought the rest of them to our lodge, because there was already the partisan group Ivan here, which was led by lieutenant Alfons Douda – a postmaster. But at first, František Doležílek came here… oh, where did he come from? My husband brought him home, introduced him to me and told me: ‘If by any chance I am not at home and he needs to spend the night here, he will stay here.’ This František Doležílek… all the time I believed that they were friends, because grandpa was from the Walachia region as well. But I only knew that his name was Franta, nothing else. This Franta Doležílek was a radio mechanic by trade and he worked as a seller and repairman of radios in the company Fiala in Želetava. At first he came to Želetava, but people there knew that he used to live there before, and so they sent him to Šašovice and from there he was sent to our lodge.”

“I came to the yard and it was full of Russians and all of them were pumping water and washing themselves. And then it got dark and they left. But one Russian who was wearing red trousers arrived there on a horse, he was probably an officer, and he wanted a place to sleep. Well, fine. My grandpa, well – we had one room and one bedroom, but we did not sleep there. Grandpa showed him in there and the Russian said nyet, nyet, and he tied his horse in the barn and he lay down there on some hay. Well, grandpa brought him a pillow and a blanket there, and the man slept there. I have it written here, too. Then in the morning, when I got up, I went to feed the hens, and the pig and goats that we had there. I could see the Russian man riding away on his horse, and I really have it written here – it was the happiest day in my life (with tears in her eyes) when I saw the Russian man riding away and disappearing in the distance. That was the end of the war... Well, it was. That was the end of the war.”