Radomil Maléř

* 1938

  • "The next day, 22 August, Přerov was already full of military vehicles, mostly Russian. We were returning to our normal work. I was to visit the branch plant in Přerov, in a place called Belka, together with two co-workers, where we were carrying out inspection work. On arriving at the branch plant we passed a petrol station which was surrounded by Russian tanks. There our political mission began. From the plant we were provided with leaflets in Russian, which said that there was peace and tranquility in our country, so let the soldiers go home to their work and families. Some of the soldiers were quite understanding, but some were terrified. And for those that we didn't succeed with, I took the liberty and climbed on the tank. And put the leaflets down the hatch, because most of the crew were in the tank. That was probably the reason that suddenly there was a sound like a hornet attacking. After a while I realized it was the whizzing of bullets flying past my head. It is very likely that the soldier who started shooting at me without warning did not want to hit me, but only to scare me. But at that moment I did not perceive it that way."

  • "After the war, when the pub opened, recreational tourism began to develop. The area of Radhošť, Pustevny and the whole Beskydy Mountains became an oasis for tourists from bigger cities. This had the effect of increasing the demand not only for drinks but also for food, so my mother started cooking. With the help of various helpers, of course. Right after the war, she was helped by a German woman who was waiting to be deported. Her name was Gertrude. And then there was a Polish girl named Lucie. There was always a need for help in the kitchen. It was terribly hard work. Cooking during the day and preparing at night. Even I was woken up at night to peel potatoes for the next day and so on. That was very hard for me, that hurt."

  • "At that time there was a lot of alcohol being drunk in Wallachia. My father's colleagues, who were also pulling wood, earned a lot of money for those times. Every day, when they were returning from the sawmill, where they brought the wood, they drove past all three pubs. And they stopped at every pub, so that when they got home, there was nothing left for the children and the family. That was one of the reasons why I disliked the profession of tavern keepers and waiters. All my brothers became waiters and pubkeepers, only I refused to go that way because I felt sorry for the children and families whose fathers spent everything they earned. Of course, it wasn't just carters and loggers, but they drank heavily and it wasn't a good for anyone."

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Zlín, 24.08.2023

    (audio)
    délka: 56:20
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the region - Central Moravia
  • 2

    Zlín, 24.11.2023

    (audio)
    délka: 01:47:41
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the region - Central Moravia
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

It was beautiful when we went out on the streets and the regime was collapsing

Radomil Maléř / 1951
Radomil Maléř / 1951
zdroj: Witness´s archive

Radomil Maléř was born on 29 March 1938 in Dolní Bečva, Beskydy. His parents owned a pub there. During the war, his father made a living by pulling wood from the surrounding hills. During the German occupation in 1944, he witnessed the execution of four resistance fighters. The Nazis organized a public execution in the school playground and the pupils had to watch. In the early 1950s, the communists confiscated the parents‘ prosperous pub.His father worked as a concreter. The witness graduated from the secondary technical school in Mladá Boleslav. He worked in the automobile repair shops in Holešov and from the mid-sixties in Přerov Engineering Works. During the occupation of Přerov by the Warsaw Pact troops in August 1968, he was briefly arrested after a conflict with Soviet soldiers. Until 1969 he was a member of the Communist Party, but was expelled from the Communist Party after the purges. In November 1989, he founded the Civic Forum in Kostelec u Holešova. From 1995 to 2001 he was mayor of Kostelec u Holešova for the Civic Democratic Party (ODS). In 2023 he was living in a home for the elderly in Kroměříž.