Karel Matula

* 1928

  • "That was director Slavin. I still remember the last time I saw his wife. It was in 1990. We met. I said to him, "What do you say, comrade, about the change?" She stood next to him and said, "I'm proud to be a communist." So I looked at her, I didn't say anything to her. The only thing I could think of was: poor. "I'm proud to be a communist." There was nothing to say to that. We're all different, well. One is proud of the crimes of his fellow tribesmen, the other has no choice but to pity him."

  • "I arrived there, I know exactly, on April 17, 1947. I was there [in Mníšek pod Brdy] for almost exactly three years. Until the thirteenth to the fourteenth of April 1950. At midnight we were ambushed by a police commando. They took all of us to jail and we were left without a trace. And I used to be on duty. I used to go bread shopping every day. So the next day I went to the rectory. And I told the parish priest what had happened. The parish priest's name was Šíma. He said, "Everybody out now." And he arranged for all of us to go to the seminary in Prague within two days. And there we were accommodated and we had the opportunity to finish each of the started year there. We were private students. So we always took exams at the end of the year for that particular year's material. So on the eighteenth of June we all went to the exam, we were all successful. That was such a pearl for us. It was such a sugar rush that everybody did well. I was finishing my sixth year at the time. And so when we finished, the vice-principal invited us individually. He split us up, I got two thousand, and then we parted ways. Then I finished high school in Brno at Antonínská."

  • "It happened that the parish priest, Father Hanzl, invited me once. He said: 'Would you like to study? You could study in Mníšek pod Brdy, there are Salesians there." So he reckoned that I would become a priest. Of course it was for me. And he rake. So I went there. I arrived there again in March, the seventeenth of March. Once again, the seventeenth of March. When I got there, I was starting on the seventeenth of March. And then almost on the same day, it was 1947. And almost on the same day in 1950 we slept. Suddenly I was awakened by a sharp light. I sat up. And there were two guys standing in the doorway. "Lie down, don't get up." One was SNB and the other was wearing an arm band. So I lay down. It was a shared bedroom. And next to the entrance to our bedroom was the entrance to Mr. Ratz's bedroom. Father Chudarek was there. They were trying to get in, "In the name of the law, open up." I heard, because I was second from the door. "Wait a minute, I'll get dressed." And they said, "Open up." When he got dressed, he opened. "In the name of the law." He was such a joker: "Couldn't you come in the morning? Wouldn't that be better for you too?" I don't know what they said to him. And as they were leading him, I can still hear him saying, "I feel like I'm in the Garden of Gethsemane." And the SS man says, "Where is it? Who do you know there?" And the one at the door says, "We'll have plenty of time to tell you." And that was the last time I saw Father Chudárek. And then after another fifteen long years."

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    Želetice, 09.11.2022

    (audio)
    duration: 02:31:29
    media recorded in project Příběhy regionu - JMK REG ED
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I was awakened by a bright light, two guys standing in the doorway

Graduation portrait of Karel Matula
Graduation portrait of Karel Matula
photo: Archive of the witness

Karel Matula was born on 6 February 1928 in Uhřice near Kyjov into a large family. His childhood, which was marked by the Second World War, was spent in Násedlovice. After his schooling, he decided to study theology at the Institute for Late Priestly Vocations in Mníšek pod Brdy, thanks to the priest Hanzl from Žarošice. He started his studies in March 1947. Due to the so-called Action K, i.e. the illegal forced liquidation of monasteries and male Catholic religious orders, he did not complete his theological studies. In 1952, he passed the matriculation exam. Subsequently, the matriculation committee recommended him to study at the University of Chemical Technology in Bratislava, and he completed his studies by distance learning in Pardubice. From the 1950s he worked as a grammar school professor in Rýmařov and later in Bílovec. However, with the label of a Catholic, he faced many difficulties. In 1990, he became deputy chairman of the Department of Education at the Ostrava Poruba Municipality. Together with Bishop Václav Malý, he founded the Church Grammar School in Ostrava, and also participated in the preparation of the construction of a new church in Poruba. He is the father of three daughters, Hana, Vladimíra and Veronika. He retired in 2022 and lived in Želetice.