Partisans’ Barber
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Josef Odstrčilík was born in Horní Lapač near Holešov on 9 December 1929. He grew up in a family with mother Aloisie, née Krajčová, father František Odstrčilík and three siblings. Having completed his primary school in Žeranovice, he studied a vocational school to become a barber. During the final months of World War II, partisans started coming to his native community. They came to the Odstrčilíks’ house, where Josef and brother František had set up a barber shop, to get a late-night haircut several times. Brother František was called up to dig trenches towards the end of the war, but he deserted and was arrested. After the war, Josef pursued his trade just briefly. He became a professional driver a few years after the liberation. At first, he drove military trucks from US Army, and then he started driving buses to Zlín with people commuting to Baťa’s factories, renamed Svit later on. From the late 1950s to his retirement in 1989, he drove buses from Hranice na Moravě and Gottwaldov (Zlín). He has been living in a home for the elderly in Holešov in recent years.
