I played for President Beneš

Download image
Walter Zimmermann, a Sudeten German, was born in 1923 near Jáchymov. His father was a miner, staunch antifascist and a long time official of the district committee of the prewar Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. For this reason the family had to flee Jáchymov in 1938. They lived in Kladno for a short time, and later left for Britain. From 1939 they lived in a refugee camp near Leeds, England. On December 5, 1941 Walter Zimmermann joined the Czechoslovak foreign units. After the war he worked in Abertamy as a technician in a glove-making company. Later he became a director of this factory. From 1962, he worked as a deputy of the head director of the glove-making company in Dobříš. In this position, he was in charge of exports and was able to make use of his language skills. In the 1980s, he worked as a UN expert in the development of a program in Pakistan focusing on the glove-making and leather-making industries. He is listed in the name lists of collaborators with the communist Secret Police, while he himself denies any cooperation with the security forces. He lives in Dobříš.