Albín Blažek

* 1932

  • “Here in 1945 in May, right in front of our house, it started – machine guns. Near Groulíkovi’s house to the hill. And from the other side, it fired there under the hill where the dump is. And a bit farther behind the dump, there were five dead bodies. And near Groulíkovi, there were about three or four dead bodies. When the Germans were moving, the road was full, so it started to fire at them. And then farther, in Františky, it threw down two bombs and one house got the worst of it.”

  • “We as underage persons got out. We for example were ordered to sort potatoes or clean up leaves or clean something somewhere. So, we walked near – when we walked through the cellars – there we individual prison cells, the solitary confinement. And it was terrible to walk through there because the people were so depressed as they beat them, they moaned, they did not let them get some sleep, nothing. They had a storage there unguarded, I do not know why. There were chains, it was a clip for hinge of this size and here a chain was put to the lock and between them a 70 centimetres long chain was put. And on this chain, they put balls sized from five kilos to 25 so that the prisoners will not escape and they had to walk with it and carry the ball on a cord in front of them.”

  • “We had the supreme state court for high treason, at Pankrác. I was arrested in Česká Třebová, they took me from the class and they brought me from Česká Třebová to Polička to interrogation. The interrogation, my interrogation, lasted about three hours and I got many punches… And as they shook me holding my hair, they pulled out handful of my hair. I was sixteen at that time. They released me and brought the rest to Chrudim and two days later they came for me and brough me as well.”

  • Full recordings
  • 1

    Oldřiš – Babka, 08.10.2021

    (audio)
    duration: 02:25:00
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
  • 2

    Oldřiš – Babka, 22.10.2021

    (audio)
    duration: 02:25:00
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
Full recordings are available only for logged users.

At the age of sixteen, he was imprisoned for high treason

The wedding of Marie and Albín Blažek, 1 October 1960
The wedding of Marie and Albín Blažek, 1 October 1960
photo: Archiv pamětníka

Albín Blažek was born on 11 March 1932 in the settlement Babka near Oldřiš in then Polička district. His parents owned a pub which was located near the main road, they traded in cattle and had a small farm. During the war, his father was helping the partisans. In April 1945 the partisans shot Blažek’s neighbour Josef Groulík because he collaborated with Germans. In August 1948, Jiří Novotný appeared in Babka and claimed he is the co-worker of a western secret service. In November 1948 Albín Blažek and his parents were arrested by the State Security and he was sentenced to six months in prison for uniting against the state. He spent his compulsory military service with technical auxiliary battalions (PTP). He spent there thirty-two months. The members of State Security forced his father to co-operate in the first half of 1950s. After the military service, Albín Blažek worked at the butcher’s, later he started to work at ČSAD (Czechoslovak State Automobile Transport) where he had worked as a bus driver until he retired. In 1960 he got married. With his wife Marie they had two sons – Petr and Milan. Milan died in a train crash near Otradov in 1995. In 1968 Albín and his parents applied for rehabilitation. They did not succeed but one of the two members of State Security, who forced his father to co-operate, was dismissed from duty. The family was rehabilitated by the court only after the revolution. The witness became an active member of Svaz PTP. He had been the chairman of the Polička unit for twenty years. During the recording of the interview, he was the last living member of PTP in Polička region. In 2021, he lived with his wife Marie in Babka.