Jan Hronek

* 1931  †︎ 2022

  • „Přišla Hlinkova garda. Najednou se objevila Hlinkova garda. Asi tak rota, když to posuzuju. Sto, sto patnáct vojáků. A byly tam tak tři, čtyři dny v té Volance. A měli i nějaké, nevím, nějaké to střelivo, samozřejmě, navíc, a nějaké aji ty zbraně. A to měli na voze. Oni šli pěšky. A aby to nemuseli střežit, tak to z toho vyndali. A v té škole byla taková místnost v přízemí, jak byly dívčí práce a chlapecké práce ruční, tak tam si děcka dávaly nářadí. Že byla, u každé školy byla nějaká zahrada. To se naučily děcka od semínka si vypěstovat, včelařilo se a to všecko. A tam byla taková malá místnost, nevím, třikrát tři metry nebo možná ještě menší. A tam oni si dali ty věci z toho vozu. Samozřejmě se to zamklo, to mělo jednoduchý zámek. A to mělo okýnko, takhle výš. A to okýnko šlo otevřít zvenku. A to oni nevěděli. A teď byl plán těm, těm gardistům něco vzít, nějaké ty zbraně. No tak se zrodil takový plán. No ale kdo proleze tím okýnkem? No tak nějaký kluk, že. No tak já. Tak, tak jsem to nacvičil. Doslova jsme to nacvičili. Víte, já nemám rád ,partyzánština´. My jsme opravdu měli všecko připravené, aspoň co já vím. Do ničeho se nešlo bezhlavě, že momentálně se někdo. To všecko se připravovalo. I toto. Tak za prvé, já jsem musel, měli jsme jenom ponožky, aby nebyly stopy, na dvoře, že. Musel jsem vylézt tátovi na ramena a teď jsem musel nohama tam otevřít to okno pozpátku, že, a tak dále. No, nebudu to popisovat. Tak podařilo se mi z toho vzít dva kulomety. Jeden byl na zásobník, to byl československý kulomet. Ten ZB dvacet šest nebo dvacet čtyři, jak který. Takovou plechovou schránku na ty zásobníky. To bylo těžké, protože to bylo všecko napáskované. A ten těžký kulomet, ten měl pás. Tak ty dva kulomety jsem vytáhl. Byl tam jeden samopal. A víc zbraní tam už nebylo. Takže moc toho neměli. Ale bylo tam spoustu střeliva. No jenomže střelivo. Tak já jsem byl vyzbrojený pistolí a měl jsem baterku, takovou maličkou, abych si posvítil. Tu pistoli jsem měl na to, kdyby náhodou nějak někdo tam zrovna přišel do toho skladu. Se vším se počítalo. A, a hlídalo mě pět nebo šest partyzánů. Ti byli tam rozmístění a kdyby, já jsem musel střílet, kdyby se to stalo, samozřejmě, a ten výstřel byl signál pro ně, aby oni zahájili palbu na tu budovu. Aby mě prostě umožnili se dostat ven nějakým způsobem. Tak to bylo plánované. A ještě se to udělalo v době výdeje stravy. Kdy prostě byla pravděpodobnost, že to. Tak co jsem mohl. No tak pár těch bedniček jsem tam vysoukal z toho, to nebylo, opravdu nebylo jednoduché. A ještě nějaké asi dvě nebo tři bedýnky těch ručních granátů, a už jsem nemoh. Já jsem se ještě musel, to okno bylo výš, tam nějak vytáhnout. Hlavou ven, že. Teď jsem musel, otec takhle na ramena, on mě chytil a takhle mě vysoukal. No bylo to, bylo to složité. A to se hned předávalo do té školní zahrady. Tam byla matka, ta to přebírala, přenesla to kousek přes tu zahrádku, to bylo deset, patnáct metrů, a tam zas čekali další chlapi za plotem A tak jsme ty, to prostě odvedli. A tak se to dostalo mimo, mimo to."

  • “And that was the worst of it, frozen stiff, you can’t control your body, you’re trembling and the... the surviving was the worst. And so it happened. They [the Germans] came early, and I informed [the partisans] with no problem at all. And I reckoned to myself, why should I freeze away somewhere, I’ll got the Kovaříks’ pub, they [the Germans] are only at the school. And I’ll report to Surovec the gendarme how things went, I’ll wait it out in the warmth and go home in the morning. So off I went, quite calm. Well, the snow was crunchy, I took about three steps, and I heard ‘Halt!’ from the courtyard. Instinct stepped in, I jumped back two paces and round the corner. And I was followed by a burst from a sub. The Germans had come in the meantime and took up lodging in the pub. That was the crux of the matter. And for that reason I never went back anywhere ever again. I waited until I was certain that there was no one there, that the village was clear. And I took the two bullets... out of the mortar... if he’d stayed quiet, he’d have done me in.”

  • “That was during the Prague Spring, in that period. So I stepped out, for instance, in military circles, and I said, look, I don’t need politruks [political officers - trans.] in the army. They only talk, commanding authority is indivisible, so either I have it, or I don’t. So if I do have it, then I don’t need a politician. I need more psychologists, sociologists, people who will organise a soldier’s free time, to make the army more palatable to him. And as far as Party organisations go, those shouldn’t be in the army - if you want to be in the Party, join the organisation in your place of abode. That could have gotten kicked from the Party, and so on. But somehow [these repercussions] missed me. Because I was assigned somewhere else, and they didn’t know that about me. And when they found it out, I had already written my request for discharge. I reckoned, well, I won’t make an idiot out of myself here. That’s literally how the question was posed. I won’t say that something is black when it’s white.”

  • “I remember when the German units drove through the village on 15 March. How [the Germans] stopped by the shop, how they tore inside. Armfuls of rolls, they gazed at them like badgers. The mark was ten crowns, it was five rolls to the crown. The shop was emptied out in thirty minutes, right. We saw it all happen. The arresting began immediately. And we, my family, mu father and mother were also part of it, they were in charge of guiding people over to Slovakia or Poland. Mr Surovec organised that in our village, he always came and said, tomorrow there’ll be one, two, so take care of them, get them sorted out. Because there were two types of people. Those who could go by train, they had the papers, they weren’t in danger of being arrested, that was okay. But [then there were] those who went illegally, they went on foot. All the way here from Pilsen, for instance. What a sight they were, after all that. So they had to have their clothes put in order, cleaned up. They simply had to be put in order.”

  • Full recordings
  • 1

    Břeclav, 06.02.2015

    (audio)
    duration: 02:40:02
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
  • 2

    Prlov, 28.06.2017

    (audio)
    duration: 02:14:30
    media recorded in project Stories of the region - Central Moravia
  • 3

    Hulín, 01.08.2019

    (audio)
    duration: 02:02:50
    media recorded in project Stories of the region - Central Moravia
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Never give up and never panic, there’s always some solution

Jan Hronek
Jan Hronek
photo: autor

Jan Maria Hronek was born on 7 June 1931 in Uherské Hradiště. His father Jan and his mother Emilie worked as teachers. They raised their son in the spirit of patriotism. They themselves then joined the partisan support network. Little Jan became a partisan messenger. He would scout out how many German soldiers were where and what weapons they had. He helped with operations targeting the Fascist Hlinka’s Guard and with sabotage efforts that destroyed various railway lines. He would also go into the forest at night to warn the partisans of a German attack. One time, he was shot at by a German soldier on the way back. Jan Hronek escaped unharmed. In 1945 the president decorated him for his bravery. After the war he became a member of the Communist Party and joined the army. However, he felt more and more that what the Communists declared differed from what was actually happening. He saw extreme poverty when participating in military field exercises in Ukraine. During Prague Spring he openly spoke out against the politicisation of the army. He later requested discharge from service himself. Until his retirement he worked in the Ostrava-Karviná mines, where he helped build up the emergency and rescue system. He lived in Břeclav. Jan Maria Hronek died on February 13 2022.