Josef Podběra

* 1921

  • “It was in winter in the Rovnost camp. They began with a construction of a new boiler- room, wash-room and a changing room in the camp. There was one tap with water for washing. It was wrapped in straw to prevent the water from freezing. A diarrhea epidemic spread in the camp. One of my friends and comrades, Karel Eizert, stayed in the first barrack, and he always had to walk to the lavatory through the entire camp, all the way behind the canteen. That evening it was my turn to watch over the barrack to keep an eye out for fire. It was part of the bullying there, because after the night watch we had to go to work the following morning. As I was standing there I noticed something white moving in the back. It was Karel. I shouted at him: ´Hello, Charlie, what’s up?´ He replied: ´Don’t bother me, I gotta go.´ He made two more steps and he says: ´Well, I don’t have to anymore!´ He walked over to the tap, washed his ass and went back.”

  • “After the election the communists took over. It was hard to tell who was a greater thief. When I was imprisoned – I had been in Jáchymov, Leopoldov – and when I then returned to the technical institute in Pankrác, that Communist Party chairman and the head of the ČSD works in Louny was brought in. They put him to prison for stealing some paints in the workshop, but there was more than that.”

  • “I was put in a correction cell in the Barbora uranium mine in Jáchymov, that was the worst correction of all, especially in winter. There were no windows, just holes. At night, they provided you with a plank, 20 cm wide. That was your bed. There was nothing on top of it. I only had one blanket with holes. You had your boots on, foot-rags and underwear. Sometimes they gave you a smock-frock ,but mostly it was just a shirt and a loose coat. No trousers. This was the warden Kulhánek. I was put in the correction cell often, mostly for saying something stupid. Somebody always turned me in... For example: this happened on the last April day, and it was enough to send me for correction. I made a joke: ´Guys, tomorrow (on May Day), we shall dress up and march in the May Day parade.´”

  • “I worked in the train cars section. They ordered me to arrange cars for their journey to Prague. I prepared cars which had no windows or doors for them. It was in winter, and when they arrived, they got sick with flu. My dad got kicked out of the train workshop immediately after, because he was heard saying that it was the Allies who had won the war, and not the Soviets. Pamphlets were being printed, and then there was this attack at one communist whose name was Franta. But the attack was done only to in order to scare them. We placed the device behind his window. I didn’t agree with it at that time, and I still don’t, even now, because intimidation was pointless at the time when they were already killing people.”

  • “While in Jáchymov, I passed through the Mariánská mine, then I was in Rovnost and Barbora-vršek. There was an infamous warden, who was a thief. He made us buy things, which he would later steal from us. He was selling us expensive coffee and cigarettes. His name was Kulhánek. The chief commander Slánský only supported him. I must not forget to mention my arch enemy, chief František Paleček in the Rovnost camp. He was a murderer, and he must have been even worse than SS men. My experience with him is incomparable to anything else. He was not even human. I would say he was a hyena, but that would be an offense to the animal. Chief Paleček devised special punishments. No correction cells. Instead, he made you stand outside in winter in a snow storm in strictly defined clothing. I was standing outside for 48 hours, but that’s nothing compared to the Jehovah Witnesses (with whom I absolutely disagree), who were outside for a week. They defrosted them in the washing room and then sent them out again.”

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Had I not been a Boy Scout, I probably wouldn’t have survived the war as a partisan

  Josef Podběra was born in 1921 in Louny as the first born son in a family of a foreman in the ČSD factory.  Joining the Boy Scouts had a major impact on his life. As a scout, he learned not only many useful skills, but he acquired mental resistance and morals as well. After finishing school he began working as a fitter in the Avia factory in Ostroměř. A resistance group formed there during the Protectorate era. The group was led by one of the foremen, Mr.Schwarz, who was, among others, printing the illegal Rudé právo newspaper, which Podběra then distributed in the town. The newspaper was discovered and Schwarz was arrested and later executed. Josef Podběra managed to escape in time. He joined a partisan resistance group led by Russian Ivan Makushevsky. They conducted sabotage activities on the railways. After the war he began working in the ČSD workshops in Louny where he stayed until the summer of 1948. In the spring of 1949 his colleague Kamil Novotný and Antonín Lhotský, who was a former boxer, organized an illegal anticommunist group. The group was formed mainly by former Scouts and Sokol members. Disgusted with the new political regime, Josef Podběra got involved in resistance activity again, this time against the communist system. They distributed pamphlets and they attempted one attack, which was just intended to intimidate. The Secret Police crushed Novotný‘s group in the autumn of 1949 and most of the members were arrested. Podběra escaped to Prague to his friends. He made several unsuccessful attempts to escape abroad. He was hiding in Staré Kestřany near Písek, where he helped with the construction of a nutria farm, and then in Pec pod Sněžkou. After a month he returned to Prague and he accepted an offer made by composer Jaroslav Mangl to help organize concerts for the music band „Lišáci.“ Illegal pamphlets were being distributed during the concerts. He managed to avoid arrest for two years but finally was arrested on November 1, 1950. On May 1951 he was sentenced to 11 years of imprisonment for anti-state activity. After the trial he was interned in Jáchymov, Leopoldov and in Prague in the Pankrác prison. He was released under President Novotný‘s amnesty in May 1960. After his release he began working in the Škoda Praha factory, where he stayed till his retirement. He married a former political prisoner.