Ing. Ladislav Husárek

* 1923

  • "However, when the Russians came, they took my service passport with a permanent exit clause and it was kept in a safe at the factory council. And Hubert Rozmanitý, as chairman of the factory council, had the key to it. So, I asked Hubert to be so kind and bring me my passport with a permanent exit clause. He took it out of the safe for me, secretly, because there was anarchy, chaos, there were no records."

  • "There was a meeting of the factory council and all the employees. I had a fiery speech there, where I attacked the management of Czechoslovak Airlines. The minister came to the meeting of the factory council. The audience with applause forced me to give the speech I had, in which I attacked the management of Czechoslovak Airlines... those were communists ... so they forced me to repeat it. So, I repeated the speech in front of that minister. And I simply made a mark with that."

  • "They took me to Pankrác at night. In cell 301, there was a lawyer as a prisoner and the other one was a bank cashier. They told me: 'You will be the commander. When they come in the morning with coffee, you must shout: »Achtung, in the cell dreihundertzehn trein man alles ordnung!«' So I had to shout, so I shouted. It seemed serious."

  • Full recordings
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    Praha, 23.04.2018

    (audio)
    duration: 02:54:42
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
  • 2

    Praha, 23.04.2018

    (audio)
    duration: 02:54:42
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
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I wanted to make completely different planes

Ladislav Husárek
Ladislav Husárek
photo: archive of Ladislav Husárek

Ladislav Husárek was born on May 4, 1923 in Dolní Beřkovice to the family of a coachman. As a child, he went for an exchange stay to a German family several times. He trained to be a radio repairman and worked at a private enterpreneur in Prague. During World War II, he was detained by the Gestapo and briefly imprisoned in Pankrác on suspicion of sabotaging radio components at the Mikrofona factory. After the war, he completed his graduation exam at evening school and studied electrical engineering at the Czech Technical University. He worked as an aircraft technician at Czechoslovak Airlines (ČSA). In 1968, he spoke at the factory council - he demanded greater independence of CSA technicians in relation to the Soviet Union. He was nominated for the chairmanship of the factory council and also for the chairmanship of the Club of Engaged Non-Partisans in Prague 6. In September 1968, he emigrated with his wife Dagmar Hamšíková (daughter of the executed anti-Nazi resistance fighter Josef Hamšík) to Vienna and the same year to Canada. In 2014, they returned to the Czech Republic together.