The Gestapo in Pardubice was the worst experience
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Josef Svoboda was born March 14, 1923 in Turkovice in the Pardubice region. His father earned his living as a musician and bandmaster in Turkovice, and his mother took care of the family farm. Josef learnt the tinsmith’s trade and began working in an armament factory in Přelouč. Damaged German trucks and armored vehicles from the front were being repaired here during WWII. When working on the repairs, the employees were sometimes using spare parts from a nearby scrap yard. Thieves were however coming to this scrap yard at nights and one night when Josef went there for some spare part, he was arrested and taken to the Gestapo station in Pardubice, where he was interrogated. He spent six months in prison. After his release he returned to the arms factory in Přelouč where he continued working until the end of the war. After the war he found employment as a bus driver for the state-owned bus company and later as a driver for the police.
