After his unexpected release from Bartolomějská, he immediately left to destroy the radio
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Hubert Procházka was born on December 27, 1930 in Brno. Both parents were doctors. In 1935, his father was shot dead in Brno square by his former patient, a paranoid schizophrenic. He, his mother and younger sister then moved to his grandfather’s house in Heřmanův Městec. After eight years of typical grammar school, Hubert Procházka began studying medicine in Hradec Králové in 1950, and later moved to the medical faculty in Prague. He was a member of the National Socialist Party and Junák. From the spring of 1949, the anti-communist group Scout Resistance of Beneš (SOB) was active in Heřmanův Městec. With the help of leaflets and the magazine Jánošík, the members criticised the policy of the ruling Communist Party of Czechoslovakia at that time. Hubert Procházka joined the activities of the SOB in July 1949. Thanks to his family car and motorbike, he distributed leaflets and the magazine. He also provided connections with distant towns. He also helped to maintain connections between the various monastic orders, which were organized by the Abbot of Želiv, Vít Tajovský. In the spring of 1951, Hubert Procházka attended a meeting with two American CIC agents (Milan Eliáš and Jaroslav Marcal), after which the SOB group decided to switch to intelligence activities on behalf of the USA. Procházka, as an amateur radio operator, owned an illegal radio, so he became a radio operator. Before Christmas 1951, part of the group was arrested by State Security. They came for Hubert Procházka on January 4, 1952 and interrogated him in Bartolomějská Street. After a few hours he was surprisingly released. He immediately left for Heřmanův Městec to destroy the radio. On his return to Prague, he was arrested again the same day. After four days of interrogations in Bartolomějská Street, the entire group was taken to Pardubice, where the main investigation was conducted, including the use of physical violence. Hubert Procházka lost three teeth and still cannot hear out of his left ear. The public trial took place in the Sokol Hall in Heřmanův Městec from 19 to 23 June 1952 in the presence of workers and party officials demanding the highest penalties. Seventeen people were tried. For espionage and treason, the sentences ranged from 15 years to one year, forfeiture of all property and several years of loss of civil rights. Hubert Procházka got off with 11 years and a fine of 20,000 CZK. His sister, Lenka, was not allowed to graduate from high school for five years because of her brother, and for the next four years she applied in vain to medical school before she could study to become a dentist. During his sentence, Procházka first worked on the construction of a dam, then was taken to the Jáchymov region, where he worked in inhumane conditions in a tower for the treatment of mined ore. In Camp “L” he met the imprisoned General Václav Paleček and also the son of the Social Democratic Minister Zdeněk Bechyně. After three years he contracted infectious hepatitis and was transferred to the prison hospital in Jáchymov. He remained as a medic in the hospital after his recovery and worked there in various capacities until his release on November 6, 1958. His sentence was shortened after a review of his trial, and his civil rights were restored only in his early 60s. He remained under the control of State Security even after his release. He managed to finish his studies and worked for the next few years as a doctor and later as a translator of books from English. In 1991, Hubert Procházka was fully rehabilitated. He was awarded as a participant of the anti-communist resistance. Hubert Procházka died on February 9, 2017.
