Jaroslav Miller

* 1949

  • "When I was with them for the first time at the Dukla [Pass], I was 15 years old. It was when all the men who had been there were still my uncles, well, everyone I knew. Every single of them was crying. 'You remember that one, you remember this one, let´s come and find where that one is buried.' At Liptovský Mikuláš they had been collecting them on the hills, so they didn't know who was buried where, so they were looking for them according to the memorials. They were running there, they found almost everybody they wanted [to find]. So they were always crying during that. That was a terrible trip. It will never be erased from my memory until the day I die." - "Dad was there with you?" - "Yes." - "Did he tell you anything?" - "They didn't want to talk about it. No one. No matter who I asked, he'd start crying and the talk would be over."

  • "They were lying on top of each other like a pile in a trench. A mortar shell fell next to them and all four of them were dead and a shrapnel went through his raincoat. That probably saved his life, that it didn't have the power to get all the way in. It got under his shoulder blade, so they didn't want to operate on him in those conditions. Then it came closer to the surface and it was under his skin and he had a lump there."

  • "The day before he was killed, my grandpa sent a photo to my mother and grandma, telling them that they were two kilometres from the border and that he would be very happy to at least visit the republic. Unfortunately, his wish did not come true. He was shot in Barvinek and left for dead. His brother Vladimír found him. There was no help, he just died. This year it will be 79 years since my grandpa passed away."

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    Šumperk, 08.03.2023

    (audio)
    délka: 01:43:11
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the region - Central Moravia
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My father had a 10-centimetre shrapnel from the Dukla Pass under his shoulder blade

Jaroslav Miller in 2023
Jaroslav Miller in 2023
zdroj: Post Bellum

Jaroslav Miller was born on 10 October 1949 in Rapotín, Šumperk region. His parents, Antonie and Miroslav Miller, were Volhynian Czechs who moved to Czechoslovakia after the World War II. His grandfather Josef Novák died in the ranks of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps in the battle for the Dukla Pass. His father suffered a severe wound in these battles, which left a ten-centimetre shrapnel in his body for the rest of his life. After attending primary school, Jaroslav Miller graduated from secondary technical automotive school in Zábřeh. Immediately after graduation, in August 1968, he joined basic military service with the rocket army in Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav, where he experienced the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops three weeks later. He recalls that he spent the next 14 days on alert in trenches because the commander of the unit decided to defend the barracks from the occupiers. Right after completing his military service, Jaroslav Miller got married. He then worked as a driver and later head of the technical department at the Masný průmysl Šumperk company. Since 2016 he has been the chairman of the Union of Volhynian Bohemians in Šumperk region. At the time of recording in 2023, he was living in Rapotín.