Ing. Milan Černín

* 1934

  • "In 1962 I left BASTRA (Mining Engineering Works Ostrava) and was recruited to the Coal Scientific Research Institute. The Ostrava-Karviná mine (OKR) was in decline at that time. This was because they were just chasing profit and no attention was paid to the safety of the miners. And there were several quite serious accidents, such as in Hlubina, where fifty-four miners died in 1960, and in Dukla, where one hundred and eight miners died in 1961. They had such a huge impact on the mining activities in the Ostrava-Karviná district that the issues had to be addressed. And they were dealt with by commissioning the Coal Research Institute to set up new workplaces dealing with occupational safety. New working groups were set up to deal with ventilation, fire and explosion prevention and tremor. Moreover, there was a huge shortage of manpower at that time. Of course, the fact was that the recruiters couldn't get enough workers because everyone was discouraged by the fact that working in mining was dangerous and there were serious accidents every now and then."

  • "There were no major air raids on Ostrava until the autumn of 1944. At that time, we were in Zengrova Street, we were in a shelter. And this huge bomb fell maybe fifty meters away from our house, on a flower bed by the technical school. Which was quite fortunate. If the bomb had fallen about five meters further, where the shelter was, where all the students were hiding, there would have been many people dead. There was this huge explosion. Even our house was shaking. I know, I cried, I cried a lot, and I called my dad. Of course, everyone was scared. My father was hiding in the Vítkovice Ironworks shelter and he survived. He was lucky. The bomb fell nearby, but it only wrecked his bicycle."

  • "It was in the afternoon. Suddenly there was a banging on the door, then the door opened and there were those three guys from the so-called economic control . They introduced themselves and stated that they had come to search our house because of a denunciation. They started looking for this so-called illegal foodstuff and in the process they started making mess in our appartment. My mother didn't like it at all, and because she spoke good German, she got into an argument with them. It ended with the German shouting, 'Now you're going to jail'. So my mother was imprisoned for three days, which was very difficult for my father. He had two children at home and he was on his own. After three or four days, through various friends and acquaintances, he managed to get my mother out of prison, because they didn't find anything, there was no evidence. So they would just drop the case. For me, as a boy, it was quite unpleasant to see those three guys, those gorillas dressed in leather coats, walking around the apartment, throwing everything around. It was a foreign invasion and I didn't understand why it was happening. It found it quite stressful."

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Ostrava, 21.11.2022

    (audio)
    délka: 01:48:03
  • 2

    Ostrava, 28.11.2022

    (audio)
    délka: 01:56:50
  • 3

    Ostrava, 07.12.2022

    (audio)
    délka: 54:13
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

Those who disagree with the execution of Slánský, raise your hand

Milan Černín (on the left) / ČSA Karviná mine / 1966
Milan Černín (on the left) / ČSA Karviná mine / 1966
zdroj: Archiv pamětníka

Milan Černín was born on 7 October 1934 in Ostrava. His father was an electrician and worked in the Nazi-controlled Vítkovice Ironworks during the German occupation. He lived in Ostrava-Vítkovice during the Second World War. He witnessed the biggest bombing of Ostrava in August 1944. He trained as a locksmith, graduated from a mechanical engineering school and then from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Ostrava. From 1962 until his retirement he worked at the Coal Scientific Research Institute in Ostrava-Radvanice. He mainly worked on the construction of the explosion protection systems in mines. After the fall of the communist regime in 1989, he became the head of the department. He received the Golden Rescue Cross for improving safety in mines. As of 2022 he lives in Ostrava.