Boleslav Fiala

* 1929

  • “I witnessed the boy was trained as a pitman, Vasrpolák he was, who found a woman in Karviná and did not care much about the military service. There were rails in the shaft and vagons with coal were coming there. As soon as the shaft was over, he put his shoes on, got dressed and off he was. When we were leaving the shaft to our troop, I heard crying and screaming. Tonda probably did it for he wanted to get out of the military. He was lying next to the rails and I recognized him according to his crying. I caught one of his legs but the other one fell down as it was cut short…”

  • “The whole platoon had to go to the medical check. Anyone, who wore glasses, got out of it and did not have to work in the shaft. My colleague Bořek Vejpustek found small children glasses in the house. A large two metre tall man put them on. As soon as they saw him wearing them they sent him away. I followed him, only half his size. They looked at my feet, touched my muscled and said: Good to go.”

  • „They made friend with my dad, who worked as a brick layer. The church in Huzov was in a poor condition. Back then my dad worked in the construction company and after work the bishop Tomášek mixed grout for him, joined two ladders and my father put plater all the way up to the roof of the church. It was terrible. The ladder went up to eight or ten metres and up there was a pulley. The bishop pulled the grout all the way up there, my dad plastered the wall and let the bucket down and he sent another one up. They just went on like that.“

  • Full recordings
  • 1

    Štarnov, 17.01.2018

    (audio)
    duration: 03:11:15
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
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Bucket and shovel instead of a uniform

Boleslav Fiala - 1962
Boleslav Fiala - 1962
photo: archiv pamětníka

Boleslav Fiala was born on 24 December, 1929 in Moravská Huzová. In October 1950 he started the basic military service. Back then he considered the idea of becoming a professional soldier. Yet he did not have any clue that he was to join the auxiliary technical troops, namely 53. PTP in Libavá. Until now he did not figure out why that happened. One of the possible reasons could have been his faith in god, an active Sokol membership or just the fact his schoolmates were sent to prison following a construed trial and he was interrogated himself by the secret police. Within PTP he then worked first in the black coal mine called “Důl Antonína Zápotockého” and then several months in the mine Darkov in the shaft Mír. Even after the two-year „military service” Boleslav Fiala was illegally kept in PTP. The chiefs then persuaded the soldiers to sign the work contract in mines or construction based on which they get immediately released from the army. The witness feared he could lose his life so he signed into construction works. He tried to leave several times into another employment, but he got permission only after a year. Later he started in the Research and Development Institute of Woodworking in Šternberk, where he worked until retirement. In 2018 he lived with his wife Jitka in Štarnov.