Bedřich Kyselka

* 1923

  • “There was the Polish-German war, then the Soviets came to Ukraine, and after that the Soviet-German war began, and all of this went around us, over us. We were thinking about how to get home, to our Republic. As in fact we were in a foreign country. When I was a boy, I would hear stories about Czechoslovakia and I had been reading about it. As we got magazines and newspapers, Young World (Mladý svět) – that's what we subscribed to.”

  • “I was wounded in Poland. The Germans surrounded us and we were almost annihilated. We were saved by the Red Army. I had this hole over there. There were medics going around so they picked us up and took us to the field hospital. Which was this tent in the woods, they gave us an injection and that was it. The next day they took us to Poland, away from the front lines to some hospital. I spent maybe two months there. It was just awful. After they took us to Poland they dropped us off right there. At this stable where the Germans kept their horses. It was some kind of a community centre. They dropped us off in front of it. There were Russians. They dropped us off, it was dark. There was just screaming and crying, there was no light. There were soldiers with no arms, with no legs, some were delirious from fever. And there were nurses but they would just redress the wound and give you tetanus vaccine, that was it. And those who made it, made it, and those who didn't, just didn't.”

  • “I saw Jews being murdered. It happened while the Germans were there. They were merchants, traders, who bought stuff like ruits or poultry from us and we bought what we needed from them. Food and some other things. They treated them like animals. They had to dig this mass grave and they had to stand inside it and after that some German came and gunned them down. They fell into the grave and there was a next wave. They were doing that openly. They would take them out of the village, they executed them and that was it.”

  • “As my parents wrote to me that I should occupy a farm in that area, I seized one for myself. And it was good, as long as the Germans were there, but after they had been expelled, I had to do all the work myself which was not so good. “ - “Can you recall the Germans being expelled?” - “Those people had such unpleasant, such a terrible time. As they complied with our wishes in every way. They welcomed us, they gave us accommodation, they were cooperating.” - “How did you manage the farm after the Germans left?” - “It was really hard. Then my parents came, so I let them take care of it and I left for Karlovy Vary, where I have been living to this day.”

  • “I had to join the military police. It was quite difficult, as we had to escort the convicts and others... we had to watch over them, they were all deserters. As it had been a penal unit. They were not executed. They sent them on a mission and if they had succeeded they could even win their freedom.” - “You mean like suicide attacks, some dangerous missions?” - “Yes, exactly. If things went bad, they called the penal company. And we had to escort them.” - “So it was like you were being punished, right?” - “For us, it was quite a hideous experience.”

  • “As we were living in Kupychiv, the front line had been overturned near Moscow, the Red Army advanced swiftly and had been pushing the Germans back. The front line was getting closer to us, to Kupychiv. We were afraid. We learned that there was this Czech army being organized under the command of general Svoboda. So they had selected four people and sent them across the German lines to the Soviet side. They contacted general Svoboda and told him that there were many Czechs in our region, young and equipped with arms. We were armed, as we had to defend ourselves. So the general gave them ten Czech soldiers who crossed the Soviet and German lines back to Kupychiv and we were enlisted. Then next day we departed. There were women and children with us as we headed to the other side.” - “And you also had a gun back then?” - “We had guns.” - “And were you ready to shoot? As you were quite young.” - “We have been defending yourselves with guns in our hands.” - “And how old were you?” - “Eighteen.”

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    Karlovy Vary, 10.11.2003

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    duration: 30:08
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
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I fought for Czechoslovakia, as you could no longer live in Volhynia

Bedřich Kyselka in 1945
Bedřich Kyselka in 1945
photo: Bedřich Kyselka

Bedřich Kyselka was born on February 2nd 1923 in Kupychiv in Volhynia, in the area that had been a part of the inter-war Second Polish Republic. His father had been a tailor, his mother was a housewife. They were living on a farm with a large orchard in its surroundings. In 1944, he had volunteered for the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps. As he had to join the military police, he was overseeing a penal unit of deserters and convicts with whom he had to participate on the most dangerous missions. After six months, he managed to arrange his transfer to a transportation unit and was transporting ammunition. He took part in many fights, including the Battle of the Dukla Pass. He was gravely wounded on the territory of Poland and spent two months in hospital. He left the army in 1946 and settled down in Tlestky near Rakovník where he had been given a farm confiscated from the Germans who were expelled from the country. He had been farming for some time with his parents who were repatriated from Volhynia. After the 1948 coup, he refused to join the agricultural coop (JZD) and moved to Karlovy Vary. He had been working as a bus driver for the next forty years.