Karel Schmidt

* 1925

  • "In Prefa I started working as the head of the accounting department, and since I am religiously based, I was put on a lower rank position and worked as a common supplier for about two years. I just got married for the second time, because the first wife died due to leukemia. And so I had such a rather difficult and critical financial situation. Well, in about three or four years they found out that I could do something, and before I left, I was a sales director deputy in Prefa."

  • "And I had the job in Opava, in about a month that I was there, we took the Germans by wagon back to Germany, so I also took the wagon on command and we watched over it there. I had problems there; there was such a problem that one was so more human. Some of my members treated the Germans drastically. I couldn't stand it, and when we stopped, I let them out of the carriage so they could do what they needed to do. And they didn't take me for the next transport because I was too soft for it."

  • "Before the end of the war, I was called to dig trenches somewhere near Přerov, Brodek near Přerov. So I stood at the station, my parents accompanied me and my friends, and there was no room left for me. There were five of us left at the station, which they didn't call up. Those who were supposed to call us told us to go home, that they would call us. In about a week, we received a summons and dug trenches here up in the White Mountain. And there was such an interesting fact that Ladislav Menšík (transl.note: a famous Czech actor and comedian) was with us in that group, who entertained us in the trenches."

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    online, 03.12.2020

    (audio)
    duration: 40:07
    media recorded in project The Stories of Our Neigbours
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Menšík and I were looking forward to go to trenches

Karel Schmidt
Karel Schmidt
photo: archiv pamětníka

Karel Schmidt was born on July 7, 1925 in Brno. At the end of the war, he was called to build trenches and worked there together with actor Vladislav (Vladimír) Menšík. After the war, Karel enlisted in the army and underwent officer training. In Opava, he was commissioned to accompany a train that was transporting Germans away from the republic. Karel allegedly prevented his subordinates from bullying the Germans, and because of this they did not entrust him with a similar task. In 1947 he retired into civilian life and started working as an accountant in the company Prefa Brno. After 1948, he was reassigned to a working-class position because of his faith. He worked in Prefa for a total of 36 years and eventually worked his way up to the position of sales deputy.