JUDr. Mojmír Konečný

“I came back to Prague and signed up for studying law. It was a turbulent time and thus we could only enroll later but soon enough I would find myself studying for the first big exam. One day, when I was going to the faculty to enroll for the exam, I passed the Faculty of Philosophy and saw armed SS troops there. The law faculty looked suspicious at first sight. I read an announcement that all universities are being closed down for three years and the names of 9 people who had been executed. I have to confess that my first reaction to this was: ‘Great, I don’t have to study no more’.”

“I spent the last 16 years of my career at the trade department of the French embassy. It was a very comfortable position. I liaised with all the ministries and the central monopoly office. I would also receive French ministers visiting Czechoslovakia. When they came to Czechoslovakia, I would tour the country with them, most often taking them to Slušovice. We would also take care of French businessmen coming to Czechoslovakia. That was our role, to put these people in touch with the Czechoslovak companies.”

“As you’ve said yourself, this resistance organization was composed of Scouts, but it progressively snowballed to become a much greater organization. I also have to add that it was the only resistance organization that had not been discovered by the Germans. It had its own system of concealment. For instance, its members would only two other members and nobody else. It was my contribution, for example, that I came across a German probing of the sewage system of the Charles Bridge. The Germans wanted to blow it up. I immediately reported my findings and was congratulated for it. In this way, the Germans could be prevented from realizing their intention.”

“The negotiations of the Czech national council, headed by professor Pražák, and the German military commander Toussaint, who was looking for his son all over Prague. However, there were actually two German armies in Prague – the Wehrmacht and the SS. The Czech national council was scared of negotiating with the SS as the SS was rather ruthless, shooting everyone who dared to negotiate for surrender. As it was so dangerous, the council asked the International Red Cross to negotiate on its behalf. They turned to Mr. Motodor for help. As a delegate of the Red Cross, he was not in a position to do this. Thus he authorized me and two fellow young people to take charge of the negotiations. The reason why he turned to me was that I spoke brilliant German. The others didn’t. We were taken to the SS command that had found its seat at the law faculty in a truck that was designated with a red cross. In spite of this, we were shot at. Then, we were taken to their commanding officers and on a map of Prague, we determined the routes to be taken by the retreating German troops. They were to take the Plzeňská ulice Street and the Karlovarská ulice Street as they naturally wanted to surrender to the Americans. These streets were to be cleared of any barricades so that they could leave freely. They were allowed to take their light guns but had to leave all heavy arms behind. This is what later happened. They set out in the morning and moved out of the city. However, in the end, their evacuation was blocked by the Soviets.”