Our community stuck together during each regime
Josef Čechák was born on July 2, 1930 in the village Majetín in the Olomouc region. He grew up in the family of tailor Josef and Marie, née Nováková. He had two older brothers and a younger sister. At the age of fourteen, he became an apprentice at the railway in Přerov, where in January 1945 he witnessed the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. At the station in Přerov, a train stopped with several dozen wagons full of prisoners, who probably continued to Mauthausen concentration camp. He also experienced bombing in Přerov, and at the end of the war he witnessed the shooting of a German partisan officer directly in Majetín. After liberation, he stayed at the track and after being transferred to Olomouc, he became a technician for the railway superstructure and later also a line management planner. From 1951 to 1953 he completed military service in Žilina and Olomouc. He completed his high school diploma at the Railway Construction Industrial School in Letohrad and then graduated from the so-called Business Institute, which replaced university professional studies. He then worked as an independent railway engineer until his retirement in 1990 and became a recognized expert. He is the author of a number of improvements and also a patent holder. Between 1981 and 1989, the witness tried several times to contact the State Security, but no cooperation took place. Josef was involved in football since his early youth - he played actively until he was fifty years old and held a number of positions at the owner’s football club. He also worked in communal politics, both before and after November 1989. Its name is connected with the construction of a football field and with the reconstruction of the Sokol gymnasium in Majetín. He is the author of a number of professional publications, he also wrote the history of the Majetín football and Sokol club. He enjoys good health and in 2020 he lived in Majetín.