Ing. Josef Dvořák

* 1927

  • "You know the coupling between the carriages? Well, the door suddenly opened - here was the wall of the carriage and here was the door leading to the next carriage - and an SS officer in a cap appeared in the door. I thought to myself: 'Oh no, I have my documents, but Joska doesn’t have anything on him!' The officer said: 'Ausweise!' [identification cards] There were several of them. I couldn’t see much, as they crowded in on us, but I could easily recognize the little cap. I didn't look around much. I preferred to look out the window at where we were going. Only then did I realize who was actually pushing in on us. I could tell from the conversations, too. I was crouching in the corner and he reached for me. When I close my eyes, I still see that hand in a buckskin glove grabbing hold of me. I had my hand on the door latch and the train was gradually slowing down as we were entering the station. We were already crossing the switches. I jerked the door open and fell out of the train. I wanted to drag him [Joska] down with me, but the German had already got hold of him."

  • "I had just come home from school by train. I got home and looked around, the gates were open an no one was round, I went inside and I saw Věrka and Vláďa crying, and my mother was lying unconscious on the ground. Next to her was dad's bag and coat, both covered in blood. I managed to wake up my mom and asked her to tell me what was going on. She told me that my dad was dead, that she didn't even know where he was. I immediately made up my mind, slammed my briefcase on the floor and went back to the station to ask the stationmaster what was going on. He said: 'They shot at a train.' I said: 'My dad was in it.' ‘Yeah? Hang on, I'll call them.' They didn't know much in Lysá, except that the whole railway carriage had been transported to Nymburk. So, he also called Nymburk and there they said: 'Yes, he’s here and the dead are in the infirmary, in the hospital.' The next train that came was a goods train that I took to Nymburk. I ran quickly to the hospital and there they told me: 'Come and have a look, they're all here in the autopsy room.' I looked and none of them was my dad. They said: 'Wait here, he might just be hurt.'"

  • "We stood there for almost an hour in just a jacket in the wind. I started to feel ill and started swaying from side to side. I stood at the front, I was among the first. I passed out. Luckily, the guy behind me saw me sway. I was carrying a bayonet around here and it could have easily gone right through me. He kicked my rifle and I fell down. Then they carried me to the infirmary that was nearby. There they brought me back to consciousness, and then I went back again. But still no one had turned up. Then it turned out that all the commanders had fled, emigrated."

  • "During Khrushchev's coup in Moscow he gave a speech about cults of personality. They used balloons to spread his speech around Czechoslovakia, printed out and translated into Czech. I had gone for a little walk, so I read it and I was completely devastated. ‘I, a communist? Oh God, I was in such a mess.’ So, of course, I went to the institute and told the trustee there: 'I am resigning from the Communist Party.' He immediately ran to the director.”

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Hradec Králové, 26.10.2022

    (audio)
    délka: 02:24:39
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Příběhy regionu - HRK REG ED
  • 2

    Hradec Králové, 16.11.2022

    (audio)
    délka: 03:15:14
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Příběhy regionu - HRK REG ED
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

My mom was lying motionless on the floor, next to her was my Dad‘s coat covered in blood

Josef Dvořák in 1946, high school graduation photograph
Josef Dvořák in 1946, high school graduation photograph
zdroj: Archiv pamětníka

Josef Dvořák was born on September 18, 1927 in Lysá nad Labem. He spent his childhood in Čelákovice, where his brother Vladimír and sister Věra were born. In the summer of 1938, he was sent to a sanatorium in Dubrovnik, in what was then Yugoslavia, which is where he was when the Munich Agreement was signed. In 1942, he started attending a secondary technical school in Prague. After the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, his family‘s house was searched. In 1944, he collected ammunition for partisans. His father was injured during an air raid by allied troops in the winter of 1945. Later on, Josef was sent to dig trenches for the German army, from where he managed excape an run back home. After the war, he joined Junák (a Czech organization of Scouts and Guides). In 1946, he graduated from high school and started working at the State Glass Research Institute in Hradec Králové. In 1949, he started his compulsory military service in Šumava, from where many soldiers fled across the border. He married in 1955, and he and his wife Milada had three daughters. In 1968, he signed the Two Thousand Words manifesto. In 1970, he was expelled from the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ). He led children‘s sports clubs in Hradec Králové. He enjoyed boating and orienteering, visiting castles and fortresses, and singing in the church choir. In 2022, he lived in Hradec Králové.