He provided a typewriter for an anti-state group
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Miroslav Cimprich was born on March 5, 1928 in the village of Horní Čermná, Lanškroun district. His father Rudolf owned a small farm, his mother took care of the household. Miroslav had an older and a younger sister. After his burgher schooling, he attended the Provincial Agricultural School in Kostelec nad Orlicí for two years, then worked with his father on the farm. In the spring of 1945 Cimprich was deployed to dig trenches in Silesia, but otherwise the family survived the war without any major problems. After the war, he experienced the lynching and deportation of Germans, as well as the arrival of Volhynian Czechs from the Soviet Union, whose unfortunate experiences with communism confirmed his negative view of the post-February regime. Already in 1948 he did not hesitate to join an anti-state group founded by his friends. Miroslav Cimprich procured a typewriter and the group began distributing anti-communist leaflets and sending threatening letters to party officials. Although all the members had owned weapons since the end of the war, they did not plan independent armed action. They awaited the arrival of the American army, whose side they wanted to join in the fight against communism. In 1950, Cimprich enlisted in Kbely near Prague, where he served on a radio station targeting transport planes. A year later he married. While on duty, he was arrested on January 3, 1952 and taken to Bartolomějská Street. The state security already had one of the members of the group in its hands and gradually arrested the others. From Bartolomějská Cimprich went to the detention centre in Pardubice, where interrogations involving beatings took place. Throughout his detention and during the trial, Miroslav was unable to contact his parents or his wife. The public trial of the group of ten took place in Prague from 29 to 31 May 1952. The Tribunal handed down sentences for treason, for preparation of terror and for illegal arming ranging from 22 to nine years. Cimprich was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment. He served his sentence in the Jáchymov camp Rovnost as a laborer in the uranium ore mining. For a long time he did not meet the working standard, so he received half rations (two spoons of oatmeal, a slice of bread and a cup of coffee per day). He also experienced a fortnight’s correction in the camp for possessing a pack of cards. He was released on a presidential amnesty in 1955. He then worked until retirement in a unified agricultural cooperative in his home village. Miroslav Cimprich received the award of a participant in the anti-communist resistance. He died in September 2016.
