Josef Pokorný

* 1922

Political prisoner in the 1950‘s (ČSR), Examinee of the State Secret Police – enemy person, Witnesses of local events connected to WWII
25. 2. 1948 - Communist coup d‘état in ČSR, 1948 - 1955 - Politic lawsuit in the Stalin age, 8. 5. 1945 - End of WWII
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    Working in the Jáchymov mine

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    „There they were always the breakers before us, who shot out a rolling same as a chimney. And we had to throw it down the chimney and clean it down there. Then I was alone and there were pretty big stones that could not be thrown in whole. So I went to the shooter and he told me I should blast it myself. So he gave me the ‚šurka‘, as we called it. I put it on the stones and burnt it, it caught fire for I don’t know around four or five minutes. And at the same time they blasted something else on a different place and the pressure wave shut my lamp down. So I had no matches and had the stuff on fire. I was really lucky then to get out of the rolling. Through the chimney hole in I had to climb up to the leaders.“

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    Life in Jáchymov

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    duration: 00:30
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    „When we had a morning shift so we came to the lager and mostly they´d make us work. But when I was after a night shift, so the morning one, which was before us, was out again and when we came to the lager, we could just go to sleep. If they didn´t make us work elsewhere. So we could sleep too. One would get used to it.“

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    End of war in Hodonín near Nasavrky

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    „The army rushed from Kamenice and then moved to Seč and Běstvina. They killed three people here. Blažek was shot over there at the hill. And a woman, who was hiding in a sand-pit. They shot her too. And a small kid, who was looking out of the window. (And when the Russians came? What did it look like in Hodonín?) Well it was not much better really. They were looking for a capture. They´d take cow-gears we had. They´d simply take it with them.“

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    Hodonín u Nasavrk, 06.06.2013

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With God’s help I survived

Josef Pokorný
Josef Pokorný
photo: autor Martin Reichl
photo: autor Martin Reichl
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Josef Pokorný was born on December 10, 1922 in a small village of Hodonín near Nasavrk. As his father was employed, he had to help out in a family farm since his childhood. When he was not working and not at school, he´d go to Orel. After finishing grammar school he attended Telegrafie training centre in Pardubice. He´d return there even after war and often carry various messages and materials between Orel in Nasavrky and regional management. In 1949 he was arrested and after long interrogations and a short trial sentenced to six years of high-treason in prison. His property was confiscated and he lost his civil rights. He served his sentence in lagers in Prachovice, in Pardubice and Jáchymov. He was released in 1954. After that he worked in Transporta Chrudim as an electrician. Though he was very manually skilled and his supervisor would write excellent reports, as a sentenced man he was never promoted nor got a higher salary. All his four children had troubles obtaining proper education.

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