“I walked up and down Bologna and looked for shops. There were plenty of them. I always showed them the food stamps and they took the ones they needed and gave me some food. A substitute for honey, substitutes for I don’t know what. Everything was more or less artificial. But also bread, ‘pane’ and things like that. So I went into all of the shops until I had no food stamps left and no money either, I also had to pay something, like two or three liras. When I was finished with all that, I had a bag full of supplies. I took the bike and went back to the school in Tavernele. And when I came there and Bortl, the old commander of the guards, saw me as I was bent under the heavy weight of the bag and when I was taking all the food (if I can really call it food as it was all artificial) out of the bag and putting it on the table, so when he saw me, tears were running down his face. And why did he cry? Because a nineteen year old greenhorn took care after ten grown men between thirty-five and forty who waited for something and did not really know what for.”
“When we saw that it was our soldiers and that there was steam coming from the field kitchen, everybody was happy and jumped out and run towards them. The field kitchen stopped. They had food because they killed a pig and had meat for the whole company. They served everybody, me as well. They gave us some rice and soup and pork meat. And all the men were sick. Because they were hungry and they ate the meal which was very nutritious. The doctor had to cure them about a week until they could eat normally. For the whole week they had only rolls and tea not do die of shock. They survived and that was good.”
“We came to Pilsen. All the twelve battalions, which were not complete, some units have been separated before, or just… So we were in a delimited space. We couldn’t go out because as long as we were soldiers of the Government Army, they needed so sort out all kinds of things with us. We had to write or sign various documents and I don’t know what. And out of this gathering, I don’t know what else to call it because all the twelve battalions were gathered there, we had vacation periods when we were going to our assigned regiments. Mine was the thirty-fifth infantry regiment in Domažlice. It was called Folinia and it was established in the town of Folinio in Italy. So first I went home and then I joined the regiment, almost like a civilist.”
“I reported to him in German and I showed him the ID card. He ignored that and called for the commander. I reported to him as well and I showed him the ID card. Without saying a single word, he took me and dragged me to the first floor where he knocked on a door. Somebody shouted: ‘Weiter.’ The commander disappeared but as long as they said ‘Weiter’ I decided to enter. I had the cap on my head and I saluted but he drove me out – ‘Raus!’, to go out that this is not the official greeting. And then I realized that we were taught to take our caps off, raise our hands and say ‘Heil Hitler’ and I don’t know what else… So I realized that, I returned and knocked the door again. Again the voice said briskly: ‘Weiter!’ So I came in with my hand up which made him satisfied. ‘Heil Hitler!’ He asked me what I needed and I told him. In German, the best I could. I showed him my ID card which was written in Czech-German. When he read where I was from, that I was Schütze von Regirungstrupe – a Government Army soldier – Protectorate Böhmen und Mähren. Even though we were far away in Italy, he had to know where his forces are and what was happening. He told me to go with him. He asked how many we were. So I told him that we were ten men plus the commander, which meant eleven. He gave me food stamps for eleven days. We deserved more than eleven days but it was all he gave us so I didn’t say anything.”
“The commander of the regiment realized that I was so straight and lively. So he appointed me to carry the flag at a parade in Prague. There were two officers marching by my side and I carried the flag between them. Some soldiers from the regiment marched behind us. So they valued me. Later I got to the military academy. At that time it was called military academy, now it is called a training institution. I got to the transport training institution. Our commander recommended me there. I would have never thought of trying to apply. I passed the school with the officer’s rank and then I fell ill as a first lieutenant and now I am a civilian.”
Stanislav Lukš was born on 28th October 1923 in Týn nad Vltavou where he also grew up. He was a member of the Sokol organization and he proved to be very talented in painting. His father was an established army tailor and his mother was a housewife. Stanislav learned the craft from his father and he shortly worked at his uncle who also was a tailor. In 1942, at the age of 19, Stanislav Lukš was drafted to the Government Armed Forces of the Protectorate. He served in the 10th battalion in Bučovice and later was transferred to Italy. He served at different places in Italy until 1945. During his service, he learned to speak Italian. After the war, he was transferred to Slovakia to Humenné. His units pursued Bandera units from Humenné to České Budějovice. After his service at the Government Armed Forces he joined the Czechoslovak Army and became a professional soldier. In 1952, he graduated at the Military Academy in Nitra. He was promoted to first lieutenant and served in Domažlice, Slaný and Terezín. He left the army in 1958 due to health problems. He worked as controller for the Benzina company and technical staff in the dairy in Bohušovice, he also cooperated with Terezín on the town chronicles as a graphic designer. He always liked to paint and he was also good at it. He is an author of several labels for the Bohušovice dairy and the Litoměřice brewery. Some of his labels are used until today. Stanislav Lukš was twice married and had three children. He died in 2008.
