Groß-Hermersdorf
(District Neutitschein)

 

Reported by: Hugo Ehler Report of November 24, 1946

On May 17, 1945 a Czech by the name of Klement Biskup dragged me out of my house and locked me overnight into an empty cattle barn belonging to a different house. He shoved and hit me. Two days later the same fellow, Biskup, came back to my house again accompanied by Josef Hilscher from Sponau and three other Czechs from Laudner, District Moravian Weißkirchen. That town is also where Biskup is from. All of them were young people between the ages of 17 and 25. Biskup ordered me to stand outside my house door, where he stood with his revolver drawn and yelled at me: "Hands up!" The three fellows aimed their rifles, and then he said to Hilscher, "now give it to him," whereupon Hilscher took a rubber truncheon out of his coat and hit me with it on my hands until they were black with bruises. Then I had to lie down, and Hilscher beat me black and blue from my shoulders to my ankles. Afterwards they forced me to kneel by the door while they beat my 74-year-old father, screamed at my wife and then searched through my entire home, stealing even the last of our food.

On August 17, 1945 I was taken to the gendarmerie office and sent from there to the court prison in Odrau. It is simply impossible to describe all the beatings and abuse we were subjected to by the militia there. There was maltreatment without end, and the rations were unfit for human consumption.

On October 15, 1945 I was transferred from the court prison to the Odrau labor camp. The treatment we got there was the same as in the prison. On October 17 the militiaman Anton Wenzlik kicked me in the shins to the point where the sores became infected and did not heal up until April 1946. Her also repeatedly boxed me about the head.

On January 28, 1946 I was sent from the Odrau labor camp to the camp at Poruba near Orlau, to the coal mine, where I had to stay until May 11, 1946. The militia there treated us just as badly as that in Odrau.

 

Groß-Schönau

 

Reported by: Franz Josef Hille and Emilie Hille Report of November 24, 1946

In February 1946 a 13-year-old schoolboy, Herbert Neumann, while on his way to visit his grandmother, was treacherously shot by a Czech at Groß-Schönau. The bullet penetrated the abdomen and the child was left lying in his own blood without any help until he died after three hours of terrible suffering.

A worker by the name of Konrad, living at Groß-Schönau, was shot in the same way by a Czech in May 1946 at a place close to his house; he died a few hours later.

I, Franz Josef Hille, witnessed this incident with my own eyes in June 1945, when near the town hall Mr. Franz Grohmann of Groß-Schönau was thrown down the stone steps and remained lying unconscious on the pavement. Mr. Grohmann was 72 years old. Close by stood three Czech customs officers, who watched this act of violence and expressed their satisfaction with loud laughter.

I, Emilie Hille, saw with my own eyes how Walter Helth, an innkeeper from Groß-Schönau, a man 60 years of age, had his face slapped and received such a severe blow on the jaw that he fell backwards and remained lying unconscious until some German men carried him away. This occurred while German inhabitants were being expelled.

 

Großsichdichfür

 

Reported by: Marie Adler Report of June 14, 1946

I was ordered out of my house and home on September 21, 1945. 8 days later a gendarme and a Czech administrator gave me permission to remain in my house. I spent one night there again. The next day the police chief from Großsichdichfür came by, boxed me - a 70-year-old woman - twice about the head, shoved me to the ground and kicked me.

 

Grulich

 

Reported by: Alfred Schubert Report of October 9, 1946

On Tuesday after Whitsun 1945 seven workmen between 16 and 60 years of age were taken from the joiner's workshop - where I was an apprentice - to the market place of Grulich, where they were tortured and maltreated in the most inhuman manner. At the same time other Germans were savagely ill-treated. Three of them were shot immediately afterwards; one of them was shot by a woman. Another man died next day as a result of his injuries. They were beaten with heavy clubs, chains and whips. The surviving employees of the joiner's workshop were all ill for some time after this experience, one of them had to remain in bed for three weeks, another for four months. I personally was a witness to the events and I am prepared to take an oath on my statement at any time.

 

Haida

 

Reported by: F. Fiedler Report of July 10, 1950

In Haida the following Germans were shot by the Czech soldateska after first being brutally tortured:

The brothers Heinz and Albert Rachmann, owners of the glass and metal goods factory;
engineer Richter from the glass and metal goods factory;
Frau Werner, movie house cashier;
Fräulein Werner, employee of Pistor's glass manufactory;
Herr J. Langer, shoemaker;
Herr Eduard Podbira, 83 years old, glass refiner;
(Herr E. Schowald got away by good luck).

In late May 1945, when the first Czech partisans and their Svoboda soldateska descended upon the glass manufacturing center Haida, that horde carried out raids on the town's inhabitants (allegedly they were searching for weapons). In the attic of 83-year-old Eduard Podbira's glass refinery, an old bayonet was discovered which Podbira's brother, a combatant in the Prussian War of 1866, had kept as a souvenir, without Podbira's knowledge. For this reason 20 Germans were arrested, and 6 of these were selected and brutally maltreated while the remaining 14 had to watch. The 6 victims, including Frau and Fräulein Werner, had to strip naked to the waist and take their shoes off. These people had to kneel on the pavement of the market square and were then beaten by the Czech gangsters with rubber truncheons on their naked upper bodies and on the soles of their feet until the poor victims collapsed unconscious. Cold water was then poured over their heads to revive them, and the torture was continued. Albert Rachmann, who could not bear to continue watching his younger brother Heinz being tortured like that, tried to flee in the direction of the Czirnich pharmacy, but was caught by the Czechs and forced to undergo the same torture. This maltreatment went on until daybreak, when the half-dead victims were shot by these Czech savages on the market square of Haida. The other 13 scapegoats were then abducted to the vicinity of Rumburg. Eyewitness: the brother-in-law of the murdered Rachmann brothers, language teacher Lehmann from Haida.

 

Haindorf
(District Friedland)

 

Reported by: Ernst Jesensky Report of May 15, 1950

My name is Ernst Jesensky and I was born on September 4th, 1908 at Haindorf, district Friedland, where I owned a transport business. When the Czechs moved in, there commenced a reign of terror: daily arrests, house searches, lootings, the taking of hostages and harassment of all kinds. Many people committed suicide. It would involve a much too detailed description if I were to report all the cases of those who were taken to the woods, beaten to death, shot and buried without ceremony. The mayor of the town, Dir. Hornischer, was one among many who - in order to avoid torture - threw himself from the third floor and died of his injuries.

I myself had to work with a firm preparing wood for generators. Later on I became ill and was afterwards employed as a chauffeur until I was transferred to Germany.

At Easter 1946 my daughter and her cousin took a walk with two of their schoolmates; on their way they were suddenly attacked by armed Czechs and shot down without cause. The girls took bullets in the head, neck and chest and died immediately, the boys received slight chest- and head-wounds and were able to flee and report the matter, otherwise this crime - like many others - would never have come out. When we arrived at the camp (Neustadt a. d. Tafelfichte) in order to be transferred, we were not allowed to use the transport bound for Bavaria, but had to wait seven weeks in the camp until the first transport left for the Russian zone. It was also intended to intern us and for this reason we were taken to the internment camp at Friedland; it was, however, overcrowded and we were not admitted. During an inspection of our luggage and a search of our personal belongings, the clothes and the coat of my murdered daughter were taken away from me, among other things.

 

Hakelsdorf
(near Hohenelbe)

 

Reported by: Anna Stanek Report of August 18, 1950

On July 5 [1945?] my daughter was thrown out of her home with only 10 minutes' notice. Then she was taken to the Russian camp. During the night a young Mongol came with a flashlight and wanted a blonde woman. But his potential victim had her brother-in-law there to protect her. So then he went to my daughter; she resisted. He tore everything she wore off her body, kneeled on her and choked her until she turned blue. Her child was screaming, so he grabbed it and threw it against the wall. Six men watched everything he did to my daughter. On July 8 they left again. The same [Mongol?] confiscated all my daughter's possessions in Reichenberg. Ever since then both my daughter and her child are ill. They are now in the Eastern Zone [East Germany]. The child is in a tuberculosis sanatorium and my daughter suffers from heart trouble.

 

Hals
(near Tachau)

 

Reported by: Dr. Hampel Report of July 3, 1946

I was arrested by the local gendarmerie on February 13 of this year at my father-in-law's home in Hals near Tachau. A protocol was written up as I watched, and in it I was accused of the most monstrous crimes, allegedly on the basis of some denunciation. Even the simplest investigation would have shown the falsehood of these claims within only a few hours. I was asked about each of the several points of the protocol, and my every "No" was countered by a blow with a dog whip. When I finally said that all these accusations had to have been prompted by an error or a denunciation, this resulted in my interrogators yanking me into an adjoining room, where I was beaten with a stick and the dog whip until I blacked out. Then I was imprisoned in the Tachau camp, in a small unfurnished room. The food rations were totally insufficient, and food parcels from the outside world were forbidden. After 5 weeks I was so weak that I could hardly remain on my feet. With the help of repeated interventions by my family doctor and the official Czech physician who knew that I was suffering from a tropical disease, I finally managed to persuade the camp administration to grant me a proper questioning, which quickly established my innocence. On April 7, 1946 I was released to go home. On my arrest I had been relieved of approximately 3,000 RM and 10,000 Czech crowns. Some of this money were business funds belonging to my father-in-law, who was still working as an architect. I was not given a receipt. When I was released, I got only a few hundred crowns back.

 

Hannsdorf

 

Reported by: Emil Tegel Report of June 23, 1946

On May 30 of last year I was arrested in Hannsdorf and detained in the prison there until October 28. On my committal I was punched so badly that I collapsed. Then I was also kicked. The guards were very often drunk, and then they would beat the inmates with bullwhips. I myself was beaten up at least 2 to 3 times weekly. Six times the totally drunk guards came into our sleeping-hall shortly before midnight, tore down all the bed frames and threw our clothes all over the place. They smashed the dishes against the wall. Then they gave us an hour to reconstruct the bedsteads, without tools, and to restore order to the room while constantly urging us to greater speed with their bullwhips. We had no opportunity to complain about these excesses by the guards. One time the crew from the Blanik Armored Train came to the camp and raged among the inmates, many of whom were covered in blood afterwards. After I had been in the camp for three months, the gendarmerie interrogated me about my political activities. They were unable to give me a reason for my arrest. Another two months later I was released.

 

Heinzendorf
(near Olbersdorf)

 

Reported by: Marie Menzel Report of September 30, 1946

On August 14th, 1945, the majority of the farmers at Heinzendorf near Olbersdorf were removed to the camp at Jägerndorf. We had to leave the house within 15 minutes and could take almost nothing with us. At the same time my 77-year-old husband was beaten badly about the head by four Czechs, so that he bled from an open wound. In addition they struck him in the side with the butt of a rifle. In the camp at Jägerndorf the men had to lie on the bare concrete floor. I tried very hard to get my husband into the infirmary, but the doctor rejected him. It was not until August 21st that they admitted him into the ward. The following day he died of his injuries.

Documents on the Expulsion of the Sudeten Germans
Survivors speak out