Jan Jelínek

“I went to the Ukraine, to Kupičov. I stayed there for eight years. It was during the hardest times when the war broke out and raged in the years 1937 to 1943. The Ukrainian nationalists and their guerillas were pretty strong in the area back then. Maybe you’ve heard about it. Well, and I was helping the people in the area as a preacher but also as a human. I helped everybody I could. It was a Jewish family, it was Poles, because those nationalists were Ukrainians. I was even hiding a Russian. It took a happy ending each and every time. Today, I sometimes can’t believe how well it went. It’s a wonder it didn’t go wrong at least once.”

(Interviewer) “What was it like in 1989 when Communism fell? What were your feelings at that time? For instance what were the demonstrations like?” “Well, I was very happy because I knew that from then on nobody would arrest me again, there were no grounds for arrest anymore.” (Interviewer) “And did you preach again? Were you active as a preacher again?” “Yes, I was a preacher till the age of 93. I had no trouble with my feet then but now my feet are sick.”

“Well I was helping those unfortunate people in the war. But not only then, I also was helping people in the Communist years. It was people that the Communists were after. I helped them so that they could exist. I also brought a whole battalion of Polish exiles to Czechoslovakia. So my life was basically work. Then I was imprisoned but I can tell you that hiding people during the war in the Ukraine was much worse. Because you didn’t know when the hour will come when they’ll learn about you and when they’ll come to arrest you. This permanent insecurity was the worst thing. Well but there is nothing I could do about it because whenever I saw someone suffering I couldn’t help myself. Especially in the case of the wounded Pole, whose wife and two daughters had been murdered. His son managed to escape. I hid those two in my house and cared for them. And then the Ukrainian nationalists came searching my house. But I helped them and that man recovered under my care. The Poles still keep sending me some money, a few Zlotys every month, they didn’t forget about me. Well, in my book I’m probably not gonna go into that much detail (the name of the book is “Pouštěj chléb svůj po vodě” - "Cast your bread upon the waters"). But I know that I did the right thing and my existence may go on.”

“And what were you doing under the Communists, under the Communist regime? You told me that after you were released, that they didn’t give you the state permission to be a preacher. What did you do then?" "Well I was cheating. I had the state-approved preaching manual but I preached according to my own views and opinions.” (Interviewer) “So you were gathering in flats with people or how did you do it?” “Well either I learned that they needed help or they came to ask me for help themselves. For instance, there was a woman whose husband had died. He probably died in a concentration camp. She got her dead husband’s documents. So she said: ‘they released my husband so I can help’ She said she married that man, that he was her husband. And both of them came from Poland to Silesia. And he counted now as her husband. So they came to my parsonage and we registered him there. But the police somehow found out from the people that it was a fraud and there was a trial. But I spoke with the judge and explained how it was. I managed to persuade that judge and he gave him the lowest possible sentence. Instead of six months of prison, they only had to serve a week each. Then another problem came up about which I talked to the judge: who was going to feed and take care of the cows? The judge proposed that they would be taking turns in the prison: the man would come home for the night and his wife would go to jail instead of him. So they served their one-week prison term in this way. The judge liked my attitudes and opinions because he thought they were right. That’s just a small story.” (Interviewer) “That was under Communism?” “Yes, that was under Communism.”

“Not from my church but he was a Pole and a Catholic, right? Well, so what I did was that I saved the family of that wounded Pole and his son.” (Interviewer) “The Ukrainian nationalistic guerillas were after him?” “Yes, the Ukrainian nationalists (the so-called “Banderovci” – note by the translator) were on his heels. These nationalists were the scum of the earth. Maybe you’ve already heard something about them, or maybe you’ve read about them in my book. My stories about how I had to face them all the time. These nationalistic Ukrainian gangs – they came to search my home but my heart remained firm. I told them: ‘well, come inside and search’. The wounded man was hidden in the third room… And when the Soviets came later, I was hiding the nationalists themselves. I was saving them and sending them to Czechoslovakia. Most of them were Poles and Jews – I helped them.”