Pavel Taich

* 1938

  • “And then there was one more thing, they were getting rid of weapons. Here, from the cross down to the Lhota, there were trenches full of weapons, they didn't want anything to do with it, so that it wouldn't be a reason for persecution by the Czechs against them, that is, they said, we don't have weapons, so they threw the weapons into the trenches in different ways. And the scouts at that time, they were older boys, my older brother was a scout at that time, they had such an obligation, or a voluntary matter, that they collected the weapons and put them in boxes. And it all depended somehow on military equipment. And there was one case, here under the mound, there were three guys from Přelouč, there they were manipulating some kind of time-controlled mine. And it exploded in the hand of one of them, and the other two ran away, or watched it from afar. It killed him on the spot and the two of them were wounded in the knees, the other hit by shrapnels, so it was such a frightening case.”

  • "It was a very complicated matter. For one thing, one had to have a passport, one had to apply for it only when one had an invitation. Then he only got an exit clause, it wasn't over yet. Then he had to have a transit visa through Germany, which of course was issued by the French embassy in Prague, because Germany did not have a representation, a Belgian one, because you drive through Belgium for several hours just to get from Germany to Ostend by the sea, and you had to have a visa for that. Each visa had six photos. It was unimaginable, I don't know how we did it back then, but the desire to see was so great that we really did it."

  • "And then only at the end of the war, when Pardubice was bombed, i.e. the petrol station in Pardubice and the petrol station in Kolín, there were air raids, so the sirens were blaring, we walked, or we ran, a bit over there, today there is the entrance to the horticulture colony, there was a line of trees, such a line of plum trees, there was a well, there was drinking water, and it was about 200 meters from us, so everyone ran from that end there when the sirens sounded, because no one knew where the bombs might fall, indeed they didn't have to hit Pardubice either, sometimes it happened that the bomb fell somewhere else. There we waited until they blew the horn and went home again. We were kind of protected there by the trees, so there would be some protection if the bombs fell. But fortunately, nothing happened here in Přelouč, they were quite accurate there, in Pardubice, or rather in Svítkov."

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    Přelouč, 14.10.2021

    (audio)
    duration: 01:04:39
    media recorded in project The Stories of Our Neigbours
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The desire was so great that we did it

Pavel Taich (en)
Pavel Taich (en)
photo: Příběhy našich sousedů

Pavel Taich was born on December 30, 1938 in Přelouč into a religious family. He had two brothers, but the younger brother tragically died at the age of four. He went to school in Přelouč and wanted to study at the secondary technical school in Pardubice, but the communist regime did not allow him to do so. So he started an apprenticeship at Tesla, where he also stayed as a worker. He then joined the military, where he thrived until his superiors heard of his views on the regime. After returning from the military service, he was not approved to join Tesla as a technician because he condemned the occupation by the Warsaw Pact troops, so he left for another job, where he continued to study electrical engineering, which he studied at an evening secondary industrial school. He was an avid Boy Scout, a member of Sokol, organist, boater and Christian throughout his life. Thanks to his faith, he established connections with foreign countries, where he travelled several times during the 1960s. Now (2021) he lives in his native house in Přelouč, teaches English and plays the organ every Sunday.