Stanislav Schwarz

* 1934

National minorities, Sudeten Germans, Sokol, The Sportsmen, Witnesses of local events connected to WWII, Svědci lokálních událostí z éry komunismu, Life along the Iron Curtain
29. 8. 1944 - April 1945 - The Slovak National Uprising, 29. 9. 1938 - The Munich Diktat, 25. 2. 1948 - Communist coup d‘état in ČSR, 17. 11. - 29. 12. 1989 - The Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, 1944 - 1945 - The liberation of Czechoslovakia, 17. 11. 1989 - Demonstration at Národní třída, 27. 5. 1942 - Assassination of R. Heydrich, 13. – 14. 4. 1950 – "Action K" – forceful concentration of Czech monks, 17. 4. 1969 – A. Dubček’s resignation, start of the “normalisation” period, 8. 5. 1945 - End of WWII
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    School was allegedly an apolitical institution

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    “In 1947 grandpa had high leather riding shoes made for me, and I received a jacket to match them. I came to school wearing this uniform and the teacher Mr. Stuchlík ordered me to go home and change my clothes and he reprimanded me for bringing this to school because school was an apolitical institution. The coup d'état then took place shortly after and in September we found application forms for the youth union on our desks – and it was our class teacher Stuchlík who wanted us to fill them out. I didn’t fill out the form, and he asked me why and I told him: ‘But you have told us that school was an apolitical institution. Why do you mix school and politics then?’”

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    Tensions in the family in the late 1930s

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    “When we visited our German relatives in 1938, my grandmother, who fell for the Nazi propaganda, kept emphasizing to me that I had to be a German. I replied: ‘Ja, ja, granny, Heil Hitler!’ and I received two silver five-Mark coins. Dad didn’t argue about politics with grandma, he thought of her as an old woman. One of my aunts told me the same thing and she explained to me that I had to be a Czech. Fine, I told her, and I got a five-Crown coin. Then I went to my mom and I said to her: ‘Mom, look, I got this for Heil Hitler, and this for Dobrý den.’ (Czech greeting - transl.’s note) I still keep these coins even today.”

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    Scout leaders in the borderland dared to grope a German woman

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    “We were on a trip in Hřensko with Boy Scouts. Two of our leaders went with us and at the end of the village we met a German woman who wearing a white band and they were immediately after her and they started groping her. I was ashamed of them. I could not understand how they dared to do that. At that moment I was done with Scouting.”

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    Děčín, 14.11.2015

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Part of the family wanted me to become a proud German, the other part a Czech patriot

Stanislav Schwarz in a Sokol uniform (1938)
Stanislav Schwarz in a Sokol uniform (1938)

Stanislav Schwarz was born June 16, 1934 in Jindřichův Hradec in a mixed Czech-German family. Until the end of the war he was living with the rest of his relatives in central Bohemia. His father Štěpán was a German by origin, but he chose to register as a Czech national at the end of the 1930s. He joined the resistance movement during the war and as a railway company employee he took over the train station in Děčín from the German personnel on May 10, 1945. Stanislav Schwarz witnessed a staged discovery of weapons in a priests’ seminary in Hradec Králové in 1951. He learnt the trade of a copper processing worker and then he was working in various manual jobs since the early 1950s. During the normalization period he was promoted to the position of a secretary of a sports union thanks to his involvement in sports activities. When he worked as a manager of the sports hall in Děčín, he helped to establish the local chapter of the Civic Forum in November 1989.

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Photos (12)
  • Stanislav Schwarz in a Sokol uniform (1938)
    Stanislav Schwarz in a Sokol uniform (1938)
  • Stanislav Schwarz (2015)
    Stanislav Schwarz (2015)
  • An equestriancompetition organised by the Sokol Association in Kolín (Sep 12, 1926). The 3rd from the left: Josef Blecha, Stanislav Schwarz's grandfather
    An equestriancompetition organised by the Sokol Association in Kolín (Sep 12, 1926). The 3rd from the left: Josef Blecha, Stanislav Schwarz's grandfather
  • Advertisement for Josef Blecha's (Stanislav's grandfather) company
    Advertisement for Josef Blecha's (Stanislav's grandfather) company
  • Stanislav Schwarz's mother's native House "At the City of Prague." On the Right: the head office of Josef Blecha's company (1910s)
    Stanislav Schwarz's mother's native House "At the City of Prague." On the Right: the head office of Josef Blecha's company (1910s)
  • Josef Blecha's House (Kolín, 1930s)
    Josef Blecha's House (Kolín, 1930s)
  • Štepán Schwarz, Stanislav Schwarz's father, as an Austrian soldier (1918)
    Štepán Schwarz, Stanislav Schwarz's father, as an Austrian soldier (1918)
  • The train station in Nová Bystřice. The 1st from the left: Stanislav Schwarz's father (1937)
    The train station in Nová Bystřice. The 1st from the left: Stanislav Schwarz's father (1937)
  • Josef Blecha, Stanislav Schwarz's grandfather, in Hungary during the First World War
    Josef Blecha, Stanislav Schwarz's grandfather, in Hungary during the First World War
  • Stanislav Schwarz (1943)
    Stanislav Schwarz (1943)
  • Wedding photo (1958) of Stanislav Schwarz and Jana Matschiniová
    Wedding photo (1958) of Stanislav Schwarz and Jana Matschiniová
  • Women rowers from Děčín and Ústí nad Labem, winners of the Třeboň Championship (1959). The fourth from the left: Jana Schwarzová, Stanislav Schwarz's wife
    Women rowers from Děčín and Ústí nad Labem, winners of the Třeboň Championship (1959). The fourth from the left: Jana Schwarzová, Stanislav Schwarz's wife
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