Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...

Women who were found as the main initiators of the protest were transported to the secret
police department in Pardubice on December 15, 1955. There they were punished with ten
days of solitary confinement. Other women who joined the hunger strike could not write letters,
receive parcels, or have visitors.
In Pardubice there was one more incident when there were twelve letters sent to the general
secretary of the OSN – Dag Hammarskjöld on June 28, 1956, where women were describing the
reasons and ways of arrest and also the conditions of the Czechoslovakian prisons and working
camps. They were demanding the rights of political prisoners. Some letters were even translated
depending on the language skills of the author. Of course the letters were never sent and
even today they are in the personal reports of the authors.
Probably the biggest revolt maybe for its mass, character, time, or resulting punishments
was the so called, “Noodle Revolt” in the working camp Vojna in 1955. It started on Monday
July 3 and up until today the participants continue to argue the reason for it. Some of
them say it was bad food with worms, some say as an honor to the anniversary of the United
States being established, and some say the main commander of the camp started it because
he insisted that prisoners line up before each meal. Frantisek Šedivý says, “The reason for
the hunger strike was getting noodles for lunch for several times. That’s also why it’s called
the Noodle Strike.” Mr. Šedivý remembers, “The situation became acute when hard working
prisoners refused to eat boiled noodles served several times and they announced a hunger
strike. It looked like a narrow-minded reason, but it had great consequences. The noodle was
also refused by other shifts so the headquarters couldn’t allow hungry prisoners back into the
shafts. So the hunger strike just changed to a strike. The strike was at the same time as the
anniversary of America’s independence so the political implications were even deeper. The
head commander called the emergency services, the camp was enclosed, and the guards were
armed more heavily. On the next night a row call was commanded and during that people
from emergency services came into the buildings and they began to heavily toss all the cells
also called, “filcunk.” High emotions supported prisoners to resist. When the commander ordered
the lineup after the cell toss prisoners responded with singing the national anthem. The
earnestness of the men who were plundering grew, sugar on the floor, together with tobacco,
torn up blankets, mud, down trodden clothes. Wooden walls, where we were hiding literature,
as well as the floors were torn up. It turned into a real mess that can only be done by an
uncontrolled violent apparatus. The majority of our books were destroyed. The hunger strike
lasted four days. Some prisoners collapsed because they were physically and psychologically
exhausted. On Friday there were just a couple people left who hadn’t eaten yet. The whole
camp was a real mess. Areas between the buildings that were always fresh and clean were
damaged, the flowers were trampled on, and everything that was possible to destroy was
destroyed. During the hunger strike some prisoners were transported to normal prisons often
with their sentences extended. So the lineup for each meal was finally enforced and together
with that the worst form of bullying.” Some prisoners were able to starve until July 9. They
were 45 men who were punished with solitary confinement and they were sent to normal
prisoners. Eleven prisoners were sentenced for organizing the strike and their sentences were
raised from eleven to twelve years.
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