Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...

Murzin 5 , a new commander, was supposed to come and so partisans wanted to welcome him 6 .
A day before, they were waiting for a plane, standing on guard. They wanted a pig from us,
but we didn’t have one. We owned just a sow with small piglets and we didn’t want to give
that up. Dad offered a sheep instead, but they were not interested in that. Finally they got
a pig from our neighbor, from our uncle. They came to our house to cook it and get it ready for
the celebrations. The uncle, who had owned the pig, came to us the next morning and told my
dad, “If you have the partisans over here, tell them to leave because they stole my pig and I’m
going to report it. The Germans will come here to check it.” Dad didn’t even have time to give
him an answer whether we had partisans over or not. When our uncle was on his way home,
the partisans beat him up. His son went to report it, unfortunately. He didn’t have to do it, however,
because he was afraid that it would be found out and he would get into more trouble. He
could have easily gone to report it the following week. At the police station there were only
two people, he made the report to them and went back home. Then, the next morning, they
were taking Murzin across the fields and meadows down to the neighbors. There they shaved
him and he ate as well. When he found out about the report, he gave a command, “So this
is how the “meadowers” behave? We will be fighting and they will betray us?” At that time,
many partisans came out from the forest, in two lines. It was terrible. My cousin was already
back home from the police station and the partisans stabbed him to death. They lit his house
on fire and by chance they shot an aunt dead too. It was hard to tell whether they wanted to
or whether it was a mistake. Uncle survived as the only one. At that time, when someone said
Murzin, I didn’t understand how someone could give out such a command.
How did you live through the end of the war?
Once a doctor was taking care of a wounded person and his wife was afraid because weird
looking people came to pick the doctor up. He didn’t come back for a long time and she went
to the police and reported it. Then he came home and when he found out that she reported
it, he was terrified. Nothing could be done and he said that he was in an abandoned cottage.
The abandoned cottage was a gamekeeper’s house in Bílova which was near our house. It was
morning, February 8, 1945 and the end of the war was close. I got up in the morning, I looked
out the window and I saw many German SS soldiers standing next to each other. Dad was mixing
feed for the animals so he couldn’t see anything and he just heard, “Achtung.” Partisans
ran out and blocked all the doors and told them they couldn’t get in. We had to listen to what
the partisans said because we had empty hands. Shooting started and right by my temple there
was a bullet that flew by. Everything at that moment was in God’s hands. We hid down in the
cellar. Then the shooting stopped, we got out, and saw that our cottage was on fire. We had
tar on the roof and when that was on fire it was popping. The Germans insisted that there
were munitions, but it was just tar. The partisans made a mistake, they didn’t stay alert and in
the morning they were sleeping like the dead, I was the first one who saw the Germans. One
partisan died in the fire, a guy named Boris was shot. Three neighbors were shot and another
gave up. 7
5 Cptn. Of the Soviet Army named Dajan Bajanovič Murzin – after the establishment of the 1st Czechoslovakian partisan
brigade named after Jan Žižka of Trocnov, he was named the chief staff officer. After the main commander Ján Ušiak died,
he took over. He organized a new group and moved to another area near Vsetín. They participated in partisan activities
in the area of Vsetín, Vizovice and Zlín (Moravia).
6 D. B. Murzin landed at night and stayed from 30th to 31st of August 1944.
7 Compare to source: POSPÍŠIL, Jaroslav. Hyeny, Vizovice:Lípa, 1996, s. 133 – 115.
Czechoslovak Political Prisoners 29