Part seventy-seventh. Tells Hynek (13) et al. May events.
April passed as water and May brought wonderful spring weather, all that could, blossomed, and the air was scorched almost in the summer. At least the children enjoyed the summer time. May, however, brought great changes in the duration of the war to all inhabitants of Pardubice. Already everybody knew that a rebellion broke out in Prague and that the German army was on the run. The war was over. Even here in Pardubice everything started around May 8th. When the people went to the streets and some places began to build barricades, but they were unique actions. Most German troops were already on their way out of town. They fled the approaching Soviet troops. Our friends went secretly one day into the streets. They met their classmates, and after a common conversation, they began building a barricade along with the locals in one alley. They wore the old harpswich from the poles, dragged a large car and brought the bricks and what they had done from the broken buildings.
At midday, the pier across the street was big enough, and our children and our bunch were sent away, home. As a collision of German cars approached. The boys decided to disobey and hide in the nearby passage, watching the approaching events. But nothing was done. The Germans turned their cars and went to find another way. The boys therefore preferred the house. There were various games in the garden or listening to the radio in the kitchen, but he did not say much. In the afternoon, it was clear that the Red Army had arrived in Pardubice. Anyone who could, went to the liberators to welcome the streets. Even our friends and their parents have met. But soon they lost themselves in a cheering crowd. The Soviet troops were in Pardubice for only a few days, but even the boys took care of the fun. Not only did they look at all possible weapons, but they also crawled out a car and a tank. The boys perceived the presence of the Soviet troops differently from the adults, and they did not admit that even the liberators could sometimes be wrong and their conduct inappropriate. The fact that something went wrong was heard from parents and other adults. But they had their children’s insight into this world and these events.
The house brought some souvenirs what the soldiers liked to give them, for them it was waste, but for the boys a treasure. In the days when the Soviet troops continued on to Berlin, the revolutionary council took over the full government of Pardubice. Almost everything has begun to return to normal tracks. There was a large billboard at the municipal office, where people could give information about their missing people and no one knew about them. It was impossible not to notice, even Otto and Hynek now asked themselves what their parents were, survived, what would happen to them? They talked about it with their replacement parents, and Daddy promised to ask what could be done about that.