Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...
Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ... Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...
was a member of the International Red Cross who was invited into the country as an expert on snake farms. He was made a prisoner because an officer from the secret police who was a spy in Switzerland was caught. It was understandable that they wanted an exchange so this specialist from the Red Cross was arrested so this exchange could happen. He refused to speak and he was refusing to eat as well. In two days a consul came from Switzerland and was threatening with the possible inspection from the International Red Cross. They didn’t do the inspection, but the food got better. We got a meal for lunch and supper and that improved things a little bit. I also have another story to tell you. In the cell there was a prison mate named Pepík Fořt. Once he was called out and a little while after that I heard a terrible cry and yelling underneath the windows. In a moment they brought Fořt back and put him back into his cell without his towel. The guy was white as a wall. I asked him, “What’s wrong?” He was shaking, telling me, “Man this is horrible, do you know what happened? They took me and another prisoner and they let the dogs out to chase us, but the dogs went after the guards.” Meanwhile we heard from our cell, “See good for you then, you weren’t supposed to do this. Why did you irritate the dogs in the clothes for “Mukls” 7 ? You thought they would go after the uniform, but they go after the smell.” This guard was training the dogs to chase “Mukls” and he would come, dressed in a “Mukl’s” uniform and he was brutal to the dogs in the cage. When they saw him coming they would growl. He thought they did this because of the uniform, but the dogs learned the sounds and smells. So in the moment they took the two prisoners out and he was standing by them, the dogs pulled him down to the ground and Pepík Fořt quickly took the towels down from his eyes. One dog was holding the guard’s leg and the other the shoulder and they couldn’t get them off. So Pepík returned to his cell. Things like that happened there. Could you describe in detail how the investigations went? It went like this, they would take me there and in the beginning it was quite common, sweet things, and reasoning that you have a family, a son, and that you will sit for a long time. My son was born in December 1950. Once there came a lady who brought in some papers. She hit me so hard that I fell down from my chair. It was a punch as from a canon shot. My teeth were broken so I spit them out. They let me be like that. I refused to give testimony the way they wanted so I wasn’t allowed to sit. I had to keep walking in my cell and if I stopped in a second they were banging on the door. At night they kept waking me up even though I wasn’t at any hearings or interrogations. Sometimes they would investigate, I would sit, and five or six people would exchange seats at the table. It was a circle. One would give you these questions and another would give you different ones to make one completely confused. Then I was practically sleeping, but I was still speaking and suddenly finding out that I didn’t know what I was saying. These things were quite unpleasant. I had to keep marching. I had sandals from which my legs were swollen. It was like standing on needles. My soles were swollen and I complained about it. They kept making up things about me all the time. At night they would kick my door, I would have to jump up, and report my presence every quarter of an hour. The light would be constantly on and we had to lay straight on our back with arms at the top of the cover. In 7 “Mukl” – someone who was in prison, the word “mukl” itself comes from the abbreviation of – “a man on death row” (in Czech: muž určený k likvidaci). It was a label given to political prisoners imprisoned by communist or Nazi regimes that were not supposed to be released and were supposed to die in prisons or concentration camps. Later on, this label was used for all political prisoners. Czechoslovak Political Prisoners 133
a moment when I turned around there would be knocking at the door again. You had to jump up and report your presence once again. The arms had to be out because it was happening that someone would want to cut their wrists. We had to lie on our backs, the bulb was lit above our heads, but people still fell asleep because of the tiredness. Once I was invited by an investigator and I had to stand up by the wall. At that time there was paper money and I had to keep my arms behind my back holding the paper bill by my nose on the wall. The paper money fell down, I got such a slap from the back that my nose broke against the wall. They were making fun of it. Sometimes they would let you sit in the corner and they would threaten you with a saber, but the worst were the psychological forces. When he started telling me that they will arrest my wife or even that she is arrested and that the kid is somewhere away. He told me, “What do you think you can do to us? Out of you we will make corpses, your wives will become whores, and your children will become orphans, and we will bring them up that they will never even come and look at your grave.” What confession did they want to hear? What exactly was their goal? They wanted to hear what I told my friend. I said, “From me he didn’t want to hear anything.” When I told him, he wouldn’t get anything out of me and they said that they had information from other places. I was in Klatovy for 2 weeks maybe 3 weeks and then they put me in a car again and took me to Pankrác 8 . In the morning they woke me up, I had to take my clothes off, cross the cell to another side, take one step to the back, and lean against the wall. It got dusty down there and dusty in my armpits. They were spraying us with DDT. It was like an enema. It stunk and it was burning. I came back to the cell and there was a guy waiting for me. When I came he said, “Hey, I will be washing you down.” So I had to wash in the toilet. In Pánkrac we washed our dishes in the toilet and drank water from the toilet because there was nothing else. There I stayed for about five weeks, I don’t know how long. Then they took us in an “Anton” 9 to Cheb. They took eight or nine of us. So did you confess to anything? No, there was nothing I could confess to. There was a trial and of course my defendant was doing a great job. He spoke to the court and the court said that it knew he (the lawyer) has got me as a court appointed lawyer. It was also said that the court will not look at the defense with sympathy because it’s their duty not to and that the court will be strict, but righteous according to my age. That was it. The prosecuting attorney made a real bad man out of me such as a drunkard and an irresponsible person. I was also psychologically influenced when I was a kid because I was brought up in a monastery. When were you sentenced? I had a trial in October 1952. I got eighteen years of so-called heavy prison and for ten years they took away my civil liberties and all my property was confiscated. The National Senate in Cheb came to the opinion that out of my position I could give out the most important information for the country’s defense and that is why they sentenced me to eighteen years of heavy prison. They also suggested the death penalty so I could be happy I got eighteen years. I didn’t believe though that the regime would stay in this country for another forty years. I gave it five, a maximum of six years. 8 Pankrác – a prison in Prague. 9 “Anton” – a closed police van for transport of prisoners. 134
- Page 84 and 85: as well. Just remember how it was d
- Page 86 and 87: Interview with Mrs. Hana Truncová
- Page 88 and 89: more copies. Sometimes we printed t
- Page 90 and 91: Ústí nad Labem to Prague, Pankrá
- Page 92 and 93: prison looks totally different toda
- Page 94 and 95: any names, possibly the first names
- Page 96 and 97: How was it when you returned home?
- Page 98 and 99: Interview with Mr. Augustin Bubník
- Page 100 and 101: What are your memories and what com
- Page 102 and 103: Out of six, was there any who didn
- Page 104 and 105: do with that case could not be pres
- Page 106 and 107: How did it look like over there? Th
- Page 108 and 109: eyes when I heard what people from
- Page 110 and 111: cape. I was even considered a “ru
- Page 112 and 113: Mr. Bubník, thank you very much fo
- Page 114 and 115: Interview with Mr. Zdeněk Kovaří
- Page 116 and 117: On September 29, 1950 I came home f
- Page 118 and 119: days after my trial I was already a
- Page 120 and 121: went through grinder number two. Th
- Page 122 and 123: Can you remember any Communists who
- Page 124 and 125: scouts’ ideology for which we wer
- Page 126 and 127: Czechoslovak Political Prisoners 12
- Page 128 and 129: Interview with Mr. Jozef Kycka Firs
- Page 130 and 131: his own army my brother decided to
- Page 132 and 133: the gatekeeper told me, “Come in.
- Page 136 and 137: What were you exactly charged for?
- Page 138 and 139: If we looked at your story with the
- Page 140 and 141: who sentenced me. Now he was a chai
- Page 142 and 143: Interview with Mr. Jan Pospíšil W
- Page 144 and 145: abroad to buy carpets. He was getti
- Page 146 and 147: Did you confess to anything in Olom
- Page 148 and 149: Where were you sent after a half ye
- Page 150 and 151: What exactly did you do in camp “
- Page 152 and 153: Czechoslovak Political Prisoners 15
- Page 154 and 155: Interview with Mr. Hubert Procházk
- Page 156 and 157: Do you remember the names of your c
- Page 158 and 159: What did they want, if I may say it
- Page 160 and 161: cause I was almost deaf. They put m
- Page 162 and 163: jerk. Only a few of these vindictiv
- Page 164 and 165: central camp headquarters. This cam
- Page 166 and 167: The main prisons and labor camps in
- Page 168 and 169: A letter from prison Czechoslovak P
- Page 170 and 171: A suit for pardon The reply from th
- Page 172 and 173: One of the few remains. This used t
- Page 174 and 175: Map of former uranium mines and lab
- Page 176 and 177: About the authors Tomáš Bouška -
was a member of the International Red Cross who was invited into the country as an expert on<br />
snake farms. He was made a prisoner because an officer from the secret police who was a spy in<br />
Switzerland was caught. It was understandable that they wanted an exchange so this specialist<br />
from the Red Cross was arrested so this exchange could happen. He refused to speak and he<br />
was refusing to eat as well. In two days a consul came from Switzerland and was threatening<br />
with the possible inspection from the International Red Cross. They didn’t do the inspection,<br />
but the food got better. We got a meal for lunch and supper and that improved things a little<br />
bit.<br />
I also have another story to tell you. In the cell there was a prison mate named Pepík Fořt.<br />
Once he was called out and a little while after that I heard a terrible cry and yelling underneath<br />
the windows. In a moment they brought Fořt back and put him back into his cell without his<br />
towel. The guy was white as a wall. I asked him, “What’s wrong?” He was shaking, telling me,<br />
“Man this is horrible, do you know what happened? They took me and another prisoner and<br />
they let the dogs out to chase us, but the dogs went after the guards.” Meanwhile we heard<br />
from our cell, “See good for you then, you weren’t supposed to do this. Why did you irritate<br />
the dogs in the clothes for “Mukls” 7 ? You thought they would go after the uniform, but they<br />
go after the smell.” This guard was training the dogs to chase “Mukls” and he would come,<br />
dressed in a “Mukl’s” uniform and he was brutal to the dogs in the cage. When they saw him<br />
coming they would growl. He thought they did this because of the uniform, but the dogs<br />
learned the sounds and smells. So in the moment they took the two prisoners out and he was<br />
standing by them, the dogs pulled him down to the ground and Pepík Fořt quickly took the<br />
towels down from his eyes. One dog was holding the guard’s leg and the other the shoulder<br />
and they couldn’t get them off. So Pepík returned to his cell. Things like that happened there.<br />
Could you describe in detail how the investigations went?<br />
It went like this, they would take me there and in the beginning it was quite common, sweet<br />
things, and reasoning that you have a family, a son, and that you will sit for a long time. My<br />
son was born in December 1950. Once there came a lady who brought in some papers. She hit<br />
me so hard that I fell down from my chair. It was a punch as from a canon shot. My teeth were<br />
broken so I spit them out. They let me be like that. I refused to give testimony the way they<br />
wanted so I wasn’t allowed to sit. I had to keep walking in my cell and if I stopped in a second<br />
they were banging on the door. At night they kept waking me up even though I wasn’t at any<br />
hearings or interrogations. Sometimes they would investigate, I would sit, and five or six people<br />
would exchange seats at the table. It was a circle. One would give you these questions and<br />
another would give you different ones to make one completely confused. Then I was practically<br />
sleeping, but I was still speaking and suddenly finding out that I didn’t know what I was<br />
saying. These things were quite unpleasant. I had to keep marching. I had sandals from which<br />
my legs were swollen. It was like standing on needles. My soles were swollen and I complained<br />
about it. They kept making up things about me all the time. At night they would kick my door,<br />
I would have to jump up, and report my presence every quarter of an hour. The light would<br />
be constantly on and we had to lay straight on our back with arms at the top of the cover. In<br />
7 “Mukl” – someone who was in prison, the word “mukl” itself comes from the abbreviation of – “a man on death row”<br />
(in Czech: muž určený k likvidaci). It was a label given to political prisoners imprisoned by communist or Nazi regimes that<br />
were not supposed to be released and were supposed to die in prisons or concentration camps. Later on, this label was<br />
used for all political prisoners.<br />
<strong>Czechoslovak</strong> <strong>Political</strong> <strong>Prisoners</strong> 133