“We put together a basketball team. These were usually the boys who were not allowed to continue in studies as well or simply this weir destiny happened to them, but we all played basketball. They were from Pilsen, from Prague and we advanced with our team to the army-wide championship. And the finals took place in Komárno during the time when a Hungarian Revolution burst out and we won the championship! That was a terrible misfortune because they thus invited us to Dukla as a reward and we were sort of locked up there in Dukla and we played basketball there and that was the reward. But the funniest thing happened when we returned to our unit. We arrived to Mošnov where we were… actually to Podolínec where we originated… No, not to Podolínec, to Dubnice nad Váhom and our army was not there anymore! And now, man, they locked us up, said we are deserters. There was the borderline army because there is a huge arms factory in Dubnice nad Váhom. And we as the ‘PTP’ [the Auxiliary Technical Battalion] built its part. And now we were without the army and we had no idea where it was. So first, they locked us up by the borderline guard unit. It all was explained and they took us to Mošnov under supervision. And I finished my military service in Mošnov in today’s huge airport, that was our beginning. Four or five villages were torn down there and we had to do the hard work. For example, the command was: ‘Railway truck!’ That was three hundred quintals of stones which were used as the foundation for the runaway. One man had to unload it during his whole shift regardless of snowing, raining or heat.”
“Well, perhaps thanks to the productivity and durability of these machines… and their quality… at the time the Germans seized our republic, German supervisors were installed to each of the engineering companies. These were usually engineers who had to evaluate whether the product is needed for the World War II or whether it is a production which is completely useless during war. A certain engineer Lefler started in our company. I want to point out that I saw the arrival of the German army to Vysoké Mýto with my own eyes as a four years old child, I will never forget the picture. And this engineer Lefler was somehow given the responsibility for the evaluation of this product and after he familiarised himself with its functioning and performance, he recommended this production to be conceived as war production and this way the company continues in production without losing its employees or even being shut down as unnecessary.”
“But he complicated it even more… Not to his disadvantage, but the whole season was complicated by my uncle Václav who gave his brother-in-law money, the amount of 4.000 – I want to point out that he wanted to emigrate because he was the son from a hotel and his sister was my uncle’s wife. During the time he wanted to escape he prepared for it with some group which unfortunately already consisted of undercover members of secret service. So, when these people wanted to help my uncle or were helpful, they all appeared in one trial and even more people were added there. I have here a photo from the trial in Vysoké Mýto where they were sentenced, my uncle to 13 years for the money, his brother-in-law, the second one, the hotelier, was sentenced to… I am not sure now whether seven or six years. Another one – the publican who handed over the money, Mr. Hlaváček, was sentenced to… two years. Well, it was a show trial, everyone in the audience gave it a clap, on the other hand it gave other people the shivers as they saw what is actually happening.”
Vlastimil Stratílek comes from a family which owned the factory Stratílek producing fire-extinguishing devices in Vysoké Mýto. He was born on January 13th 1935. He states his first intense memory was the view on motorcyclists from Wehrmacht occupying Vysoké Mýto in March 1939. The company Stratílek was found necessary for Nazi war industry, it was enlarged and a German engineer was installed there to supervise. During the war, Stratílkova family on purpose employed the people who were in danger of being dragged to Germany to forced labour. They supported groups of partisans from the vicinity as well. After February 1948 the factory was nationalised, the uncle of the witness was imprisoned and the witness himself started his compulsory military service in the Auxiliary Technical Battalion (PTP). After his return he had difficulties to get a job and eventually worked in blue-collars jobs in Orličan company in Dvořisko until his retirement. After the fall of the regime and the first free elections he was elected on the Civic Forum list and became a deputy mayor of Vysoké Mýto.
Photos of employees of Stratílek factory from 1942, Vlastimil and Václav Stratílkovi, the father and the uncle of the witness, are in the bigger pictures from the left
Photos of employees of Stratílek factory from 1942, Vlastimil and Václav Stratílkovi, the father and the uncle of the witness, are in the bigger pictures from the left
