I was afraid to tell my parents that my brother had fallen, so I sucked for a while
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Jindřich Pochožaj was born on January 20, 1933 in the village of Český Straklov in Volhynia in what was then Poland (now Ukraine). The parents were of different nationalities. Mother Anna’s was Czech and his father Jefrem was Ukrainian. In 1944, his brother Boris, who was nine years older, joined the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps. He fell in the ranks of an independent tank brigade on April 24, 1945 during the liberation of the village of Velká Polom. In 1947, the family re-emigrated to Czechoslovakia and settled in the village of Kamenná depopulated after the expulsion of the Germans. After studying at the Mechanical Engineering School, Jindřich Pochožaj worked for 40 years in the local ironworks and wireworks. First as chief mechanic and then master. At the time of filming in 2022, he still lived in Kamenná. In the house where he and his wife Anna raised their two daughters, Lenka and Jindřiška.
