Josef Veltruský

* 1926

  • “We were told what to do so first we went to Kamenický Šenov. And we went door to door and we were waking the people up, where the Germans lived. And we told them to pack 30 kilograms of things per person, now I don’t know if it was 30 or 35, but never mind. It doesn’t matter anymore. And we told them that within an hour they are supposed to be at that small town square, in Kamenický Šenov, that they would be evacuated. There was already this carriage or two, there were about two. And they rounded up the people there, the Germans. And from there we… well we heard a lot of German curses, probably, we didn’t speak much German. It was pretty drastic. But there was no other way, we had to obey as soldiers. But it probably wouldn’t go any other way because the people, who experienced a lot in the occupied are, our Czech people who had to run away from there, they experienced a lot of bad things too.”

  • “And we were told that back in a barn the people went there to arm themselves and that they helped the partisans in Řepín. So we, there was three of us, and we went there. They told us they didn’t have guns anymore and that they can’t give us anything anymore. And we, with our young people’s reckless attitude, we said that we would walk along the road to Řepín, unarmed, with nothing. Luckily we met some good people who went in the opposite direction. “Where are you going, lads?” Well, lads, we were boys. And so we told them and they said: “Then just turn around and walk back. They are now walking towards us, behind us there are some Germans. They just guard it around here, on this road.” So at first we played it tough and all, but then we started hesitating, we started thinking about what we could possibly do with nothing in our hands. And so we went back with them.”

  • “It was here too, they threw these bombs at us. And I was somewhere outside and didn’t make it home so I hid by this gate and the bombs were falling all over Mělník. And when it was over I ran home and started looking for Mum and she was nowhere to be found. And then I found her in the yard and I hear her crying. And I go back to the goat and she was there with the goat, she spent the bombing with the goat, waiting for it to pass. And I told her: “Come outside, it’s over!” And so she was crying there.”

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    Mělník, 15.02.2016

    (audio)
    délka: 01:02:21
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu The Stories of Our Neigbours
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The expulsion of Germans was drastic but there was no other way

Young Josef Veltruský
Young Josef Veltruský

Josef Veltruský was born in Mělník on 18th of December 1926. He studied to be a confectioner in Pilsen during the war, although he didn‘t work with pastry too much, but rather he washed dishes. The confectionery industry suffered under the rationing system. After finishing school in 1944 he wanted to go home but ended up having to stay in Pilsen. He was deployed to work in the Škoda factories where he witnessed several Allied bombings. He visited home in March 1944 and never came back to Pilsen. After the war he joined the military service voluntarily and was sent to evacuate Germans in the border regions. He spent the last three months of his military service in mines. After leaving the army he was employed as a manual worker in Avia. He wanted to work in the canteen where he later got employed as an assistant cook. He completed his certification and became a manager. Josef worked in Avia until his retirement. As of 2016 he lived in Mělník.