František Lesák

* 1922

  • “[Q: Where you on the barricades?] No, I wasn’t on the barricades; like I was saying I had these courses here and I was a pharmacist, so I started a sickbay in Prague in Břevnov, on Kutnauer Square. And on the left, I liked that, there was a big family residence, and it had two garages next to each other. I’ll go back a bit. It was a Saturday, and I went off to sort something out in Pankrác. So I went to Pankrác. Already when I was passing through in the tram in the morning, around seven or eight o’clock, and when I was passing through Wenceslaw Square, that’s where it began, there were little flags everywhere, hanging from the windows, but Baťa had a flag going all the way down to the ground, and the biggest and best hotel in Prague at the time, they also had one down to the ground. Well, so I got this infirmary up and running, so I had it equipped pretty quickly, and there were three, four girls there. One was a real nurse and the others were volunteers. So I wrote them what I needed, and I hadn’t even noticed, but the nurse crossed the road and there was a pharmacy right opposite. I was astounded by what all they sent me. They sent me absolutely everything; I did a course for it, some 40 or 60 hours in all, so they sent me hemostats. And just imagine, obstetrical forceps as well. I said I hoped those wouldn’t be necessary, but no matter.”

  • “I couldn’t understand one thing. That Czechoslovak citizens, though of German nationality... the Beneš Decrees were not published in any newspapers, I don’t know the details either, but I reckon the anti-Fascists should have probably stayed here. Except instead of letting them stay here, they simply stuck them into pig wagons and... And I was looking after – I have documentation to prove it – I was looking after one family, and things got so bad that when they put them in the camp there, there happened to be this small concentration camp there, where they collected them. And because he had three children, I would bring him lunch and dinner because they were rationed just 100 grams of bread a day, it was just dreadful. And I said: ‘Who gave you this?’ when I was at the district national committee. ‘Who gave you this, that they’re supposed to have this much, as if they were in a concentration camp, because they’re not, they’re citizens of our republic. This won’t do.’ So I got into a twist with them... but you can’t reason with the Communists for the life of you – they have their truth and that’s the end to any discussion. So I looked after them there. He searched for me too, some years later, he found me here in Dolánky, I’d built myself a nice house there, so he found me there.”

  • “I’ll mention Masaryk, one specific event. We were, it was warm, sometime in June, and now suddenly we were playing there, and there were seagulls in the Šárecký Stream. In short, we were catching them – catching, you can imagine, if they pecked you, that’d go right through. So while we were looking, we suddenly heard a voice, we heard a horse, that it’d stopped. And we heard: ‘Well, children, how are you, what are you doing?’ – ‘Well, sir, if you want, we can give you a lobster that we caught.’ And he said: ‘And what of your dad and mum? Do they have work?’ And we said: ‘Well, they’re employed, both of them.’ And he said: ‘That’s good.’ I remember that like it was today. ‘It’s good that they have work. Be good and listen to your parents.’ And off he went. Why did he ride through there? He found us there another two times or so. Because there was the manor house in Veleslavín, and his wife was being treated there.”

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You can’t reason with the Communists

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František Lesák

František Lesák was born on 24 March 1922 in Prague to underage parents. He was placed in an orphanage after birth and only given back to his parents when they came of age. The same fate met his two-years-younger sister. He trained as a pharmacist and worked in the profession until he was assigned to forced labour at Ruzyně Airport during World War II. During the Prague Uprising he founded a temporary sickbay for the ill and wounded in Břevnov. He visited patients all over Prague. After the war he moved to Děčín, where he managed a drug store. He established a successful sports club. He tried his hand at several jobs and professions. He refused to join the Communist Party and changed positions frequently. His son died under unexplained circumstances, apparently following a clash with a member of Public Security (the police).