“Why were there so many communists here? A lot of people didn’t believe that pure democracy would work because rich people were more privileged.”
Otakar Černý was born in 1919 in Křenovice near Brno, died 14.10.2009 in Canbridge in England. His father was a stationmaster in Křenovice, his mother was probably of Polish origin. She left him when he was three and he never found out why. His father married again and Otakar got a six years older stepsister, they got along well. He attended the local basic school and a grammar school in Brno. He was interested in flying and he signed in the Czechoslovak Aero Club. After the graduation exam, he passed through a year of training and joined the air forces in Prague. In 1939, he escaped to Poland and France and entered the Foreign Legion where he served in the air forces. After the defeat of France, the exile government transferred all the Czech pilots to England. After the training, which also included English, he was assigned as a telegraph operator to the 311th bomber squadron. The English sent the Czech pilots to the frontline so Otakar Černý also fought in the first line. He met his wife in Cambridge and got married. In June 1941, his plane was shot down during a bombing of Hamburg. After a few days, he was caught in Holland. He was transported to Amsterdam, Frankfurt and finally to a concentration camp in Waldburg. There he met with J. Brysk with whom he managed to escape from the camp. He spent the rest of the war in camps and on the run. At the end of war, he was in an extremely watched camp Oflag IVC in Colditz, which was liberated by the American forces on 15th April 1945. He returned to England. After the liberation, he moved to Czechoslovakia together with his wife. At first they didn't get a flat and had to stay in hotels and in the so called Pilots' House. Until 1948, he worked in the Institute of aerospace engineering in Prague-Letňany, then he was accused with retaining information about pilots who attempted to escape abroad (J. Bryks and general Janoušek attempted to leave the country after the February overthrown). He was interrogated in the "Domeček" (Little House) in Loreta in Prague and sentenced in a trial with J. Bryks, both to three years in prison. They were sent to a labor camp in Dolní Jiřetín. The authorities were afraid that Černý and Bryks would try to escape so Bryks was transported to the prison at Bory. Černý was informed that they were going to transport him to Bory as well a week later. Before the transport, he managed to escape to East Germany and then with smugglers to West Germany and then to England. His wife had left Czechoslovakia with their six months old baby immediately after Otakar Černý was arrested. He didn't visit Czechoslovakia until the Velvet Revolution in 1989. Died on October 14th in Cambridge in the Great Britain.
