I was counting on the communist regime collapsing one day
Miloslav Dočkal was born on June 13, 1927 into the evangelical family of a small farmer. He attended five grades of lower elementary school in Budislav, and then four grades of higher elementary school in Proseč. Throughout his childhood, he and his brother Blahoslav helped their father with the farm work. In 1944 he enrolled in an industrial secondary school in Litomyšl. After working several different jobs, he returned to work on his father’s estate in 1946. In the summer 1949, Josef Lněnička, the son of a butcher from Budislav, contacted Miloslav and invited him to join in anti-regime activities. Lněnička’s group planned to scare the local communist officials who had beeen bullying local citizens, especially farmers and small entrepreneurs. In early autumn 1949 Dočkal himself proposed a plan to burglarize an ironmonger’s shop in Proseč, which stocked ammunition. According to his plan, the group would steal ammunition for some guns that Lněnička already owned. Although the group was able to execute their plan, they did not go unnoticed by the StB, (the Czech secret police). After a year-long investigation and staging of a huge trial, Dockal and his friends were brought to the State Court in Litomyšl on October 4th, 1950. Miloslav was sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment for high treason. He spent eleven years in prison. He was interned in the prisons in Pardubice, Chrudim, Litoměřice, Plzeň-Bory, and in the labour camp Vojna near Příbram and in Opava. He was given amnesty from Opava on May 9, 1960. Although a free man, Dockal’s past as a political prisoner continued to follow him. He returned to his native Budislav, where the local communists had established a firm regime. At first he worked in Litomyšl in a construction company, but he had to quit after a few days. His history of labour in the mines had severly damaged his health, and left him incapable of handling this demanding job. He found a job as a latheman in Juranky, but the communist officials quickly fired from his position once learning about his past. Left without wokr, and with a family under the threat of eviction, Miloslav was forced to begin working in an agricultural cooperative, where he labored in freezing temperatures for only a third of his former pay. Several years later he found a better job as a latheman in Poříčí, and he remained there till his retirement. He is a member of the local chapter of the Confederation of Political Prisoners in Litomyšl, and is married with two sons.
