Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...

What exactly did you do in camp “XII”?
I went to the housing development and there I laid concrete. Then I became unemployed
because in 1953 they didn’t have any other work for us.
What did Camp “L” 25 look like when you got there?
In “L” there was a great deal of starvation and hazing. I saw there how they put a hat on Mr.
Šlachtecký´s head and they tore off his shoulder patches. It happened this way, a bus was sent
there that had equipment for x-raying the lungs. The night shift went to bed and shortly after
that they were woken again to go get their x-rays. Prisoners started getting really angry and
they started fighting. It ended up that someone put a hat on the commander’s head and tore
off his shoulder patches and the dog handler was such an idiot that he brought his dog there.
So they brought the dog there and the dog bit the head commander in his ass…
Imagine that we got a box and it had 270 kilos (594 pounds) and it wasn’t full yet. It was
clear uranium. The worst thing was that in “L” the strongest iron ore 26 was produced and the
ventilation was directed straight to the camp. Yet, before there was no ventilation at all.
Were you employed in the grinding department?
Yes, I was at the grinding department “2” 27 .
How long did you stay in camp “L”?
I stayed a year and a half, I was at the grinding department and then I was transferred to
the forced labor camp Bytíz by Příbram. From there I had to go to court because I was called
to give testimony on someone. Finally, I said I didn’t know the person. He said he didn’t know
me either and this way it was finished. Then I asked the judge for my lost wages that day since
I had to come and testify for a guy I didn’t know. I suggested that the policeman who called
me to testify should pay for my lost wages. The judge only laughed, what could they do to me,
throw me in jail? They could put me into solitary confinement, but that would be normal. In
camp “L” we went there on all national holidays regularly. For example on May 1st they came
for us with blankets and we knew what was coming up next.
What was solitary confinement like?
The solitary cells were alright. It used to be a pigsty. Before it was in a cellar for potatoes or
coal. There was also a great deal of bullying when we were in solitary confinement. There were
thousands of barrels we were storing here and there for nothing. A pile of sand was transported
from here to there, back and forth. In winter we had to take all the hot coals from the fire
place at 6 o’clock in the evening. There was no heat. All these buildings in camp were standing
on pylons, and most of them had special linings so the buildings wouldn’t fall apart, but camp
“L” was the only one where the lining was missing so under the floor you could hear the wind
blowing. There was no water and no showers. Those were outside and in solitary confinement
only cold water. I remember Radim Kočan washing his face with coffee. There was nothing
else, there was simply nothing else!
Can you remember your prison number?
017764 and then they changed it to 02008, but for the longest time I had the first one.
25 Camp called “L,” sometimes called also a camp for liquidation. There was “a tower of death” where the prisoners were
getting into direct contact with radioactive uranium.
26 The narrator means ore that contains uranium.
27 Grinding department – the department where the iron ore was ground into a soft powder.
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