Schoolgirl Dagmar Jungmannová, Kosova Hora, 1950s

Dagmar Jungmanová in dancing lessons, 1960s

"Don't look at the quantity" The motto, which was followed by Jan Žižka and later by Karel Mareš, who incorporated the slogan into the emblem of the 311th Czechoslovak Bomber Squadron of the RAF, Kosova Hora, June 2023

In 1951, by order of the Ministry of National Defence, the family of Karel Mareš was evicted from their Prague apartment. Prague was forbidden to General Mareš and they lived in a castle in the village of Kosová Hora near Sedlčany, where they lived in poor conditions.

Chief of Staff of the 22nd Helicopter Air Base Colonel Alois Matýska with Dagmar Jungman at the unveiling of the memorial plaque to her father General Karel Mareš, Tábor, 2015

Memorial plaque to General Karel Mareš on the wall of the cemetery church in Kosova Hora, June 2023

The current appearance of the castle in the village of Kosova Hora, where the family of General Karel Mareš lived since 1951

Monument to General Karel Mareš, Kosova Hora, June 2023

Aeroclub Tábor squadron flight in honour of General Karel Mareš, Tábor, 2015

Unveiling of the monument to Brigadier General Karel Mareš, Kosova Hora, 2018

The grave of Brigadier General Karel Mareš in Tábor

Karel Mareš died on 10 June 1960 and the last farewell to the war veteran took place at the Motol Crematorium in Prague. "They did not leave us alone even when he died. My mother was not even allowed to put his uniform in his coffin, he wished to be dressed in an air force uniform. She had to cut off the gold buttons, the spacers, everything. Only Kosovars came to the funeral - guys from the tractor and people from the farm who liked Dad. They loved him. The others were afraid to come," recalls the general's daughter.

The general's son, Karel Mareš (*1925), "He said he was going to Horažďovice to visit his mother for the holidays and he and a friend had escaped across the border to Germany. He got to New Zealand, married a Czech girl and they moved to Australia. Of course, that didn't help my dad either. First he was in jail because of General Píka, and later because of his brother. But we didn't find out that he had fled abroad until just before my father's death," says Dagmar Jungmannová about her half-brother Karel.

He lived out the last years of his life as an agricultural worker for the State Farm, ill, on the verge of poverty and still under the watch of State Security, Kosova Hora, 1950s

Funeral farewell to General and Commander of the 311th Czechoslovak Bomber Squadron RAF Karel Mareš. "Professor Niederle from Motol told us that if my father had stayed in the ranks of the army and attended regular medical check-ups, the carcinogen could have been discovered in time and it might not have turned out the way it did," recalls the general's daughter Dagmar Jungmannová

Degraded, evicted from Prague and humiliated over and over again by the communists, war veteran Karel Mareš and his daughter Dagmar, Kosova Hora, 1950s

Ice skating and sledging - winter games of Karel Mareš and daughter Dagmar - exactly as the witness describes them, Kosova Hora, 1950s

The general's son Karel Mareš (*1925) from his first marriage, who fled across the border after the communist coup

Dagmar with her father and grandmother, Kosova Hora, 1950s

Married couple Karel and Růžena Mareš, 1946

Karel Mareš (right), as the first commander of the 311th Czechoslovak Bomber Squadron with Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš in Great Britain, 1940-1942

Air Force Major Karel Mareš (left) receives thanks and appreciation from Bulgarian Tsar Boris III (centre in white) for a demonstration flight at Sofia airport, 28 May 1935

National air competition 12 heures d'angers, which was also attended by Czechoslovak aviator Karel Mareš

Military Attaché Karel Mareš in the Soviet Union (1942-1946). He replaced the image of the dictator J. V. Stalin with the Czech thinker Jan Hus

In England, Karel Mareš (right) became the first commander of the 311th Czechoslovak Bomber Squadron, Great Britain, 1940-1942