Lieutenant (ret.) Vladimír Hryzbil

* 1925  †︎ 2017

  • "We were three. The first had a task a rag to mounth, the second arms and weapon, and the third put down. That is all. And when we brought him, he just pleased to don´t shot him."

  • "We went on well with Ukrainians, they stole, it is clear. Ukrainians ended, that they had to work for us. We had no one, because we were a large family, but Ukrainians went to Czechs to work, work with horses, to the field, to the hop garden."

  • "Snipers like they are, so I suddenly saw, that Tonda Tengrel was killed by sniper. I said: where you could to be bastard? You had had so nice view on him and promptly that. I said: Could you be in the tree? Probably not. He was on a clear hill and i begun fire there, i fired there and later it wasn´t seen, he has would be there."

  • "What I can tell you, I have to admit now, that the first day I cried like a small boy. Could you imagine, whan I had never fired. When you know it and they led you have to be there. So here and here and here and that guy was shot dead. What means this first day? The first day means so much. Later you get used, because you can´t go back, you have to go ahead."

  • "When we had this major Stroganov, he sent us for "tongue". Do you know what it mean? Simply for captive, but officer, if not officer at least soldier. So we were always three-four days, we observed, where are Germans soldiers. When we had see, that some of them frequently went to one place, we targted him and we have would catched him. We had task: the first-give a rag to his mounth, the second clutch his arms, gun and the third immediately down. So we had a good luck, that we had captured officer. Again slowly, it is impossible to take him a run back, not. Simply we had had in some way went, to go back with him. He just pleased us: don´t kill me, don´t kill me. I said, we will not kill you. Guy, why we should kill you? So we had brought him along, they interrogated him and later he was imprisonment in the camp."

  • "I have one experience from Low Tatra Mountains, because we had entrenched there and was an order, that maybe three or four days we will prepare on these two cities - that Mikuláš. Ok. One says to entrench in Tatra Mountains. So I had entrenched, about half an hour later I was in a water. I couldn´t already go back, because we were like a sitting ducks for Germans. If I poked my head out, I would to be dead. So we were there, I don´t know, about fourteen days."

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    Deštnice, okr. Louny, 19.08.2014

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In the end it deteriorated into this, we fled from

Hrizbyl1_0001a.jpg (historic)
Lieutenant (ret.) Vladimír Hryzbil
photo: Ze svatební fotografie p. Hryzbila. Poskytnutá během natáčení.

Vladimir Hryzbil was born on 2nd March 1925 in a village Moldava in Volhynia. Nearly since the childhood he worked in the homestead. Vladimir Hryzbil´s father had spent a harsh time during the First World War, there he was all long 7 years. So he was surely happy to work and start a family. Josef Hryzbil was a heavy patriot and Czechoslovakia was all for him and in the spirit of this he also brought up his childern. Vladimir Hryzbil was tied to Czechoslovakia state since a early childhood. He attended Sokol, was a member of volunteer fire brigade. Occupation of Volhynia by the Soviet Union in 1939 meant the end of peaceful life. Hryzbils family survived the War, Vladimir Hryzbil entered to the Czechoslovakia army, when general Svoboda had came. He underwent a military training in Rumunia, and later served in the espionage troop. He participated on deliberation of Czechoslovakia, he fought at Dukla, where he was wounded. He was placed in Žatec region after the War, there he also settled and got married. He had again experience with the collectivization, this time provided by Czechoslovakian communists. He had like an opponent of collectivization and son of avowed enemy of regime, like his father and his own son, problems with the communist regime. He passed away on May, 19th, 2017