The Uhlířov informer was publicly hanged in Opava
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Josef Prejda was born in Uhlířov on 15 February 1936 into the family of Václav and Školastika Prejdas. His uncle Alexandr Prejda was a Czechoslovak legionnaire in Italy in World War I. After the occupation of the Sudetenland in 1938, the witness experienced the Germanization of the school. As a child, he perceived the war primarily through blackouts, air raids and the arrests of local citizens for listening to foreign radio. In 1944, the Gestapo dragged away 14 local residents on denunciation, and several of them died in prison. In the spring of 1945, during the fighting in the village, the Prejda family hid in the cellar. They decided to leave the village eventually and walked through the minefields to Opava. When the family returned to the destroyed village, they set about rebuilding the farm. In 1946, the town of Semily took patronage of the village and organized a convalescent stay for the Uhlířov children including the witness. In the same year, the Uhlířov informer Adolfína Galetková was executed in Opava. Josef Prejda trained for a locksmith in Ostrava-Vítkovice. He served with a motorized regiment in 1955-1957 and experienced mobilization during the Hungarian crisis of 1956. After his military service, he completed his education at a high school and worked at Vítkovice Ironworks as a machine fitter for electric motors. He was living in Ostrava in 2025.
