Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...

another group. They were also farmers – Gába, Hruška… Karel was sentenced by the army
court and had the penalty of death, but that was a year after our sentencing. Alena and I were
in the process together.
How did they find out about you and your group?
The first person arrested was Josef Zajíček, to whom Mach gave a letter. He went by bus to
Southern Moravia where he was supposed to send the letter. There they arrested him, examined
him, and took the letter. That was a week before our arrest. At that time he didn’t come
back and we didn’t know why. Then Mr. Žídek didn’t return home from work. Right after that
the arresting started.
What was your arrest like?
When I was young I used to go out to village parties and I let men walk me home. One young
man was taking me home this way and when we were going through the forest all of a sudden
we heard, “Put your hands up.” I wasn’t surprised, but the guy walking me home was frightened
because he didn’t have a clue what was happening. They probably thought I was meeting
Karel, the one who escaped from the army, in the evenings, but I never went out to meet
him. I asked Karel pretty strictly when he appeared after his escape, “Why did you leave, what
do you want here?” He took offence to what I said and we rarely ever met after that. Yet, on
that night, they just frightened us. Two weeks after this, on March 8, 1954 they came to arrest
Dad and I. They knocked on the window and daddy went to get the door. I don’t know how
many of them came. They just said, “Ms. Růčková, get up, the time of settlement has come.”
I got so angry, “You want to settle with me, but I didn’t do anything!” At that moment I was
really sorry I didn’t have a gun for myself although I was offered one by Josef Mach. Today
I don’t regret that anymore. Who knows what would have happened if I had had one. I didn’t
feel guilty at all, we just wanted a good life for us and for others. Dad and I had to get dressed,
mom was crying. Then they took us to Bystřice.
Do you know how Alena Svobodová, Josef Mach, and Karel were finally arrested?
When dad and I were taken to prison, in Rajnochovice we could see that something was
happening, but we didn’t have a clue what. Josef, Karel, and Alena were in Rajnochovice with
the Kovář family when we were arrested. In the morning hours the secret police got to them
and started a shoot out. They shot one boy there and they took his body with them and no
one even today knows where he ended up. Another nine-year old kid lost his nerves and never
got well again. It’s interesting that the Žídkova family, the other family where we were hiding
people at, wasn’t arrested. Only the Kovář family had to pay the price. Those three were lucky
to escape, Karel was shot in his heel, but he took the bullet out himself. Alena Svobodová, from
Brno, went with him and took care of him. They got home to Bílová where they were hiding
for another month, by that time, Karel’s leg really began to heal. Once a forester came to them
and offered to take them to safety, but he took them to where the secret police were waiting
and arrested them. Josef Mach also escaped and he was hiding in Loučka by Kunovice. There
he established another group. Mach trusted the sister of Mr. Žídek. She worked as a nurse in
a hospital in Kroměříž. He confided everything to her and he also told her where the code key
was for breaking messages. She was bringing him medicines, pretending she was working for
us, but she wasn’t arrested with us and there was no confrontation with her. His escape looked
like this: one farmer who was in another group, which was also organized by Josef Mach, took
him to a certain place. There was an ambulance car standing there that Žídková was supposed
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