Arnošt Kafka

* 1938

  • "There were probably four fighter planes towards the end of the war. They were Americans, supposedly. They shot down planes, probably from Bratislava, because there were PC desks in the fire site. At a distance of, let´s say, about four kilometers in the direction to Pozďatín as the crow flies, we could see them shooting at each other, and then we saw one falling down, towards Studenec. So, we went to find out further above Studenec, on the hill, if it landed there. It flew around those houses and it was on fire when we arrived there. Some of the soldiers who jumped out of the plane with a parachute, as the plane was descending rapidly, so they got caught on the back rudders and the plane was pulling them. As long as they were flying in the height that the distance of the twigs of the parachute was sufficient enough, then it was ok, they were hanging on it. However, when it flew as if upwards, then it dragged them with it. So, when we got there, they were lying there, moaning. Some of them, I don't know if there were five, I don't know if they survived. But the co-pilot jumped out of the already burning plane, and he said that the commander of the plane, the lieutenant, that he had both legs broken, that he could not get him out, so he died in a fire there."

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    Studenec, 26.06.2017

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They damaged everything where they could

A current photo
A current photo
zdroj: Studenec 2017

Arnošt Kafka was born on January 9, 1938 and he comes from Studenec in the Vysočina region. His family already owned a general store and coal in Studenec before the war. In 1950, the State Security arrested the witness‘s father, Arnošt Kafka. He was sentenced to thirteen years and sent to the Jáchymov region. Arnošt Kafka senior escaped from the prison in 1954 and he went to Austria. The young Arnošt Kafka was not allowed by the authorities to study at a secondary industrial school, he had to go to an apprentice school. The family was monitored and prevented from meeting their father until 1968. During the communist totalitarian era, Arnošt Kafka worked his way up to a leading position at the state Energy Institute.