Jiří Krotil

* unknown

Emigrant, A 1948 – 1989 emigrant/refugee, Relative of a political prisoner, Relatives of important personalities, Sokol, Witnesses of local events connected to WWII, Illegal border crossing
25. 2. 1948 - Communist coup d‘état in ČSR, 1944 - 1945 - The liberation of Czechoslovakia, 1941 - 1945 - Transports to the concentration camps, 19. 6. – 23. 6. 1948 – The Sokol Gathering
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    Sparta I. radio

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    “We lived in Prague-Hodkovičky. During the war, my family was in touch with Mr Krajina’s ÚVOD and my brother-in-law Jindřich Klečka was the Sparta I. radio operator. My sister Božena Klečková was a decipherer in charge of deciphering the messages from London. On 7 May 1941, Božka was sitting at a table and deciphering. Suddenly the doorbell rang. We could see the street and we knew right away what was going on. The men were wearing the typical leather coats and flat hats. Božka got all the papers and ran to the toilet. When she came back the Gestapo were in already; the father had let them in. When they first came the Gestapo were not exactly sure what was going on. Then André Regenermel came; he was a radio operator too, had the key to the house and came in – right into the arms of the Gestapo. They found the messages he was supposed to give to Božka for deciphering. When he wasn’t coming back to my brother-in-law Jindřich Klečka, who used to transmit from the house of Ms Hercíková who lived nearby, my brother-in-law sent Ms Hercíková to us to on the pretext of borrowing some sugar or flour or whatever. While serving her, my father used his facial expressions to show her what had happened. Jindřich Klečka packed up Sparta I. and left through the gardens. By then, our street was besieged by the Gestapo.”

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    Old acquaintance - Ota Rambousek

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    “While in Regensburg, at the Goethe Schule, I met a person who I knew from Czechoslovkia. We both used to run the Velká Kunratická race. He was Ota Rambousek. He was in the Sokol too, but he was among adults where I was still a junior. We got together and stuck together. It must have been just before Christmas 1948 when Ota started walking. On his first assignment, he went to my family. He involved my other brother-in-law, Svatopluk Lacina, in illegal work. As far as I know, it was about getting ‘clean’ documents and stamps. Obviously, Ota did not speak much about it – where he goes, what ways... All he would say was ‘Greetings from home. They are doing such and such…’.”

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    Cross the border, pronto

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    “We got on a train and went to Chodov on 5 July 1948. Or maybe to Trhanov, I can’t remember now. Václav Široký was sick and stayed at a hotel. So only Rudolf Bláha, nicknamed Ruďka, and I went on. First we went to Pec pod Čerchovem and then up to Čerchov via the “old Pec way”. Then we climbed the Kurz Watchtower to look around. We could not see Waldmünchen, where we came later, from there though. On our way to the border, we were helped by Josef Mráz AKA Baron, a member of the Sokol in Domažlice. I believe his father was a member of the finance guard, so he explained where the border was. After a little confusion, we were soon descending to Bavaria through the forest. A Germany finance guardsman met us soon. He knew immediately what the matter was. He took us to the financial authority; we told them what had happened and we had to surrender our money. There was a man who spoke Polish and Czech and they interrogated us. Then we were sent to a villa for more interrogations. We later learned that they were from the CIC. They also had an interpreter. But they soon understood that we had no interesting news for them, so that was the end of it.”

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    Pleš, 04.09.2014

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    duration: 02:25:38
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When I saw the post-war development I was wondering why no one was doing anything to counter it

PN_Krotil_dobova.jpg (historic)
Jiří Krotil
photo: archiv Jiřího Krotila, Jan Kotrbáček
photo: archiv Jiřího Krotila, Jan Kotrbáček
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Jiří (Georg) Krotil was born in Prague on 10 February 1931. During the war, his brother-in-law Jiří Klečka was an illegal radio operator and sister Božena deciphered the secret transmissions. His brother-in-law died during a Gestapo raid, and his sister and mother were held at the Ravensbrück concentration camp and his father in Prague-Pankrác. Considering the post-war developments and the outlook for Czechoslovakia, Jiří left the country in July 1948. Going through Čerchov in West Bohemia to refugee camps in Germany, he eventually settled in Norway. Before that, he met Ota Rambousek, a person he knew from Prague, in one camp. Rambousek soon started operating as a walker agent for CIC, involving Jiří’s other brother-in-law Svatopluk Lacina in the activity; as a result, Lacina ended up in Jáchymov and Jiří’s parents in eviction in the Krkonoše promontory. Jiří spent the rest of his life partially in Norway, but mostly working as a cabin boy on ocean liners.

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