Josef Pukowiec

“Hello, my name is Pukowiec Josef. I was born on January 1, 1929. I am married, I have three daughters (…). I worked in the Czechoslovak Army Mine; altogether I have been working there for forty-two years since I was eighteen years old. I learnt the trade of a machine fitter and then I went to work in the mines, and after having worked in the mines I transferred to work on the surface. While working there I became a member of the company’s fire rescue corps. I was participating in rescue operations with the rescue teams in the mines in the Ostrava-Karviná regions. (…) I was born in a miners’ colony in Sovinec, the houses had been torn down a long time ago. The mines belonged to the Larisch-Mönnich family. (…)”

“Look, we mainly worked on the surface and we had to follow the orders of the head dispatcher. We had to fulfill any orders we were given. I worked in the mine, and I know it there. I wanted to work as a machine fitter, but there was no job opening. I worked on rock breaking, behind the locomotive, I worked as a switch-man for the engineer who was driving the locomotive. I worked in disaster response team. (…) The dispatcher received information that help was needed. It was a kind of mutual help. One mine shaft was helping the other. Each shaft had its own rescue team. Rescuers from other shafts were coming to us. When something happened in the Czechoslovak Army mineshaft, the rescue teams from the other shafts – from Zápotocký, Jeremenko, Fučík, would come to us. That’s the way it worked.”