The partisans didn’t even show up

When Mrs Kršáková was nine years old, her parents’ cottage and seven other houses in Vařákové paseky was burnt down by a unit of German soldiers. It was revenge for the death of one of the Germans killed by partisans who had been hiding at the cottage owners for the past two years. “They made us go outside, they started to set the cattle free and started to set the cottages on fire. And as our barn was burning, we had it roofed with asbestos cement and the heat caused the asbestos cement to give out noises similar to shooting. And the Germans were like: a single partisan, shooting ammunition. And they wanted to start throwing us in the fire. And my mother together with a neighbour begged for us not to be thrown into the fire, that it was the asbestos cement shooting. They believed it and let us be.” The cottages in Vařákové paseky were burning on 2nd May, at a time when most of the area was liberated by the Red Army. “As they were burning us, we heard music from Valašské Klobúky. We were being burnt and we could hear them greet the Russians.” The Germans interrogated the cottage owners, everyone, including the children, and at the same time they were also beating. They let the women go in the end, Mrs Kršáková’s brother and three other people were shot.