Jaroslav Smetana
* 1939 †︎ 2023
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"The final performance was performed by us, the work reserves. There was enthusiasm back then. We created gears. There was a big wheel in the middle and smaller on the sides of the bike. They were all spinning, their teeth falling together. It was a wonderful performance. In between, there were girls - apprentices. We were wearing blue shorts and white T-shirts. The girls were all white and made rays. That was the highlight and the end of the exercise. At the end, we crouched down and then laid down. There was still the picture of gears, and the girls were doing waves. It was beautiful."
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"Only once I saw an arrest. It was Germans who came to us. They thought the border was only when there was barbed wire. It happened at the neighboring company. The boys let them cross the border. Then they were stopped. They turned around and tried to come back. If any of the superiors saw this, the soldiers would be in trouble. That's why they shot at them. They were careful, they were aiming far away from them. The Germans stood still. Counterintelligence arrived and took them away. Then they told us about them. They said one of them was some kind of engineer. They crossed the border by mistake."
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"He turned around and flew straight at us again. My mother knew it was going to be bad. Next to the road, the ravine was about 40 centimeters deep. That's where she put us. She unbuttoned the coat she used to cover us. We were lying on one side of her. The pilot flew against us and started shooting again. He was aiming the same way, just like when he flew from behind."
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Full recordings
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v Plzni, 14.07.2020
(audio)
duration: 01:27:11
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v Plzni, 22.10.2020
(audio)
duration: 28:16
Full recordings are available only for logged users.
Under fire from a low-flying fighter plane
Jaroslav Smetana was born on November 13, 1939 to Václav and Maria, the elder of two siblings. At the very end of the Second World War, he and his mother and brother Vladimir experienced firsthand the raid of an American fighter plane on the Horažďovice railway station. After a few days, Horažďovice was liberated by the American army. After completing his basic education, he entered an apprenticeship as a car mechanic in Klatovy in 1954. In June 1955 he participated in the first national spartakiad in Prague in Strahov. After his schooling, he worked as a mechanic in ČSAD Horažďovice. In January 1959 he was called to duty with the border guard in Železná near Bělá nad Radbuzou. On March 8, 1960, he was injured in a nighttime emergency. He returned from the army on 30 December 1960 and subsequently continued his work as a mechanic at ČSAD. In 1963 Jaroslav married Maria, with whom he raised two daughters and a son. He experienced the occupation of Czechoslovakia on August 21, 1968 in Horažďovice. He participated in the planting of a commemorative lime tree on the 50th anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia. From 1971 he worked at Sport in Horažďovice. He viewed the changes after 1989 and the new arrangement rather negatively. In 2020 he lived in his house in Horažďovice. Jaroslav Smetana died on March 3rd, 2023.
