The following text is not a historical study. It is a retelling of the witness’s life story based on the memories recorded in the interview. The story was processed by external collaborators of the Memory of Nations. In some cases, the short biography draws on documents made available by the Security Forces Archives, State District Archives, National Archives, or other institutions. These are used merely to complement the witness’s testimony. The referenced pages of such files are saved in the Documents section.

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Otto Šplíchal (* 1929)

We thought that freedom would be for keeps

  • born 4 October 1929 in Pilsen

  • witnessed the arrival of Germans in Pilsen, Jewish transports, several air raids

  • aged 14, began studying at the Baťa School in Zlín, then attended a business academy

  • met his future wife when studying economics in Prague; they married in 1955

  • worked as a childcarer at the Baťa School until he was summoned to military service in the Auxiliary Engineering Corps

  • father of the translator and Hungarian scholar Dana Gálová, who died of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) in 2015