Josef Pojman

Josef Pojman was born on July 24, 1922, in the village of Mirotín, Volhynia, in what was then Poland. He went to a Polish elementary school, then he attended a Czech one. He had been working at his family’s homestead. During Nazi occupation, when the mass murder of their Jewish compatriots took place, his family offered shelter to some of them. In March 1944, Josef volunteered for the 1st Czechoslovak Independent Brigade. He had been trained as a radio operator and fought at Makhnovka and the Dukla Pass. After the war, he was stationed in Postoloprty and in the Žatec region. He left the army in January 1946. He used the opportunity and took over a farmstead, abandoned by the Germans in former Sudetenland. He found his new home in the village of Oparno, starting a family. He married Anna Pospíšilová, also of Czecho-Volhynian origin, and raised three children. Till 1952, Josef had been farming land on his own, after that, he had been forced to join the Agricultural Coop, serving as it’s chairman for many years. He left the office after the thriving Oparno Agricultural Coop had been merged with the not-quite-as-successful Velemín Coop. He had been working in agriculture till his retirement in 1980. For his exploits during the Second World War, he was decorated the Polish cross of valour, the Czechoslovak Medal for Bravery before the Enemy, the Czechoslovak army distinguished service medal, the USSR Memorial Malplaquet with Shield, the Soviet Medal for the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941 – 1945, the Soviet Order of the Patriotic War, Second Class, and others. He had reached the rank of first lieutenant. In 2004, he had been living in Oparno.