We helped the guerrillas, but then the Communists deprived us of property
Zdeněk Frištenský was born on 7 December 1926 in Lužice near Šternberk. His uncle, a successful wrestler Gustav Frištenský, together with his father František Frištenský ran a farm in Lusatia. They contributed to the building of Czech schools there, they were great patriots. When Lusatia got under the rule of Germany, the family had to flee. František bought a farm in Bedihošť in the region of Prostějov. Frištenskys supplied food guerrillas in the Beskydy. Zdeněk witnesses a number of events connected with the end of the Second World War in the Prostějov area. His parents were arrested in the 1950s after refusing to join a single agricultural cooperative in Bedihošť. The economy was nationalized and then they lived in modest conditions in a cottage. Zdeněk became a successful motorcycle racer, winning until 1955, when he stopped racing due to health reasons. He worked as a car mechanic and later led a recreation center in Beskydy. He and his second wife Marie attempted to emigrate unsuccessfully in the 1970s, after which they were confiscated by passports and could no longer travel. His brothers and son from his first marriage emigrated too.