My friend and I threw our Communist Party registration forms out of the train windows
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Zdeněk Smékal was born on 23 March 1937 in Ptení to parents Jindřich and Františka Smékal as the youngest of three children. His father worked as a carpenter, and they had a small farm. Zdeněk grew up during the Second World War, survived several local war events, the imprisonment of his uncle by the Gestapo for listening to foreign radio, and the liberation of the village. He witnessed the cruel Vlasov army interrogation on the day of Ptení’s liberation. From 1952 to 1954, he trained as a maintenance and machinery repairman in Uničov, in the then branch of the V. I. Lenin Plants. He then worked most of his life in the Prostějov Ironworks as a maintenance foreman. From 1956 to 1958, he underwent tough military training, first in Prešov with the paratroopers, where he also graduated from the non-commissioned officer school in 1957. The commander of the unit was Colonel František Mansfeld. In the second year, they were posted to Sabinov to the newly formed Special Purpose Unit. When he returned to civilian life in 1958, he had twenty-five parachutes under his belt. In 1959, he married Marie, née Osohová. Together, they raised their children Zdeněk (1960) and Hana (1965-2024). During his work examinations after 1968, he disagreed with the entry of Warsaw Pact troops on our land. He never joined the Communist Party. At the time of filming, in 2025, he lived in Ptení.
