“When the war with Russia started in 1941, I was doing day and night shifts and I spoke (while employed at Krupp in Essen) with young people who weren’t bad but they talked and I too let something “slip”. They said that they would need to bring the German culture to the Czech lands and to the Balkans. And I said: “Well if you want to bring the sort of culture you’re showing at the Russian front, then…” (thank you very much). There was also some Van guy and he wrote down what we talked about. He twisted the meaning though... it wasn’t true.”
“In June I received a paper with an order to present myself at the labour office and my uncle said: “You’re not going anywhere.” and he tore it to pieces and so I didn’t go… then another one arrived in September. This one was directly for me and I threw it away… And then on the 1st of December a policeman came to our flat and said: “Get dressed and come with me.” And that was all he said. And then it was another ride to Germany to do forced labour, no excuses, and I was on the way to Saalfeld.”
“We welded submarine parts. We started at 8 p. m. and finished at 5 a. m. At midnight we had a snack, it wasn’t too stressful. We worked every day of the week except Sundays.”
Ladislav Laubr was born in 1920. When he was eight years old his mother became sick and his father sent him away to his relatives in Carpathian Ruthenia. He went to local elementary and secondary schools, and became a machine mechanic. In 1939 they escaped back to Prague via Romania, Croatia, and Austria. Three months later Ladislav Laubr was offered a position in Germany. In 1940 he started working as a welder for a company called Krupp based in Essen. In 1942 he was arrested and imprisoned for five months for criticizing the German culture in the workplace. The following year in January, he returned to the Protectorate to live with his uncle in Hradec Králové, in September he received a notice from the labour office based on which he was sent to work in Saalfeld in December 1943. During the war he got married and worked at a post office. Afterwards he worked in administration and in TOS Varnsdorf, a fabric manufacturing company. He got the position thanks to his music background (being a violin and trumpet player) - his superior was a music conductor. Between the years 1957-1959 he studied at an industry school. He spent five years in the prisons of Bory and Pankrác for committing a non-political offence. Later on, Ladislav Laubr married for the second time and currently lives in Česká Kamenice.
