“I was born in Český Krumlov and went to school there. And in 1938, when Hitler and the Germans occupied us, we left the town for ethnic reasons. We went to Prague. My father lost his job, of course. So we were lucky to have an aunt who took care of us and in April 1939 we left for England. I was sixteen then. Naturally, I did not make much sense of what was happening, but my father was convinced that there was no future for us here. That when the occupation of the entire republic is complete, it will be very bad. So my father secured us – me and my brother - a place in some children’s transport. And with this transport we went to England. In England, a family, which we had not known before, was taking care of us and we stayed with them. I was learning English there. My brother, who was four years younger than me, started to go to school there. And we lived with this family for one year, then the war broke out. So I went to London and began to work as an apprentice in a factory, later as a locksmith.”
“One more experience, for example we were hiding in a small ruined house, and we had a bunker in front of it. We took turns and one night it was me who was on duty. I went to the bunker, my friend to that house, and I overheard the Germans saying: ´They’ve just changed places.´ So it was clear to me they knew where I was, but I did not know where they were hiding. So I sent a signal to the house, my friends silently came to me and we started to throw hand grenades over the wall, which was about fifty metres in front of us. In the morning we found out we had not hit anybody, but for sure they Germans ran away and we could stay there without any further bother. And one more story, but a bad one.... One time, the Germans launched a tank attack on a so-called factory. We started in our tanks, stopped in front of the factory and waited till the morning. At night I was terribly tired, so I told me friends I was going to lie down for a while. I got out, lay down behind our tank, and in a while a machine-gun fire started. Never in my life have I jumped into the tank more quickly. And I discovered there were bullet holes in the hat I wore on my head. Just a few milimetres, and I would not have been here today.”
“It really was different for each person. For instance, one day we attacked their group when they were on guard. One German reached for his rifle, and of course, in this very moment, our people shot him. This means the others surrendered to us without resistance, and this one soldier believed he would still win the war. The same thing. I believe that some of them, those who became real fanatics, were convinced till the very end of the war that they could still win it. With some secret weapon, or what not. But it really was a strictly individual matter. Naturally, the option to surrender was not easy for them, either, because they also had to walk over that mine field. And the place we were in, it was a flat open terrain, so they could not run away. Thus I believe that this really was an individual decision, depending on the person. Even if they had known and believed that the war was drawing to an end, they could not have all surrendered as a group. We understood clearly that if we had been taken captives, we would not have survived. And with this conviction we fought. It was evident to us that if they had captured us, we would not have had a slightest chance for survival. It was not only us there; the Englishmen were guarding another sector. But they certainly knew who was there. Somebody with mines.... How many of our people have lost their lives there, I don’t really know. But I know that in combat, either by mines or by bullets, about five people died, five just of our company. And this was nothing easy.”
“At the beginning we were always advancing behind the front, and afterwards we eventually arrived to Dunkerque. We were ordered not to let the Germans, who have assembled in Dunkerque, leave the town. To prevent them from getting out, so that they would not be able to rejoin the rest of their army, which was cut off of Dunkerque. And there was a parallel attack from the Germans who were in Dunkerque and from those who were outside. But they did not succeed. Our next task was: to keep the Germans in Dunkerque isolated at all costs. They were being supplied by their airplanes, but they could not get out. At first they tried to, later, when they realized it was hopeless, the attempted only smaller assaults. And they were not successful, but they still continued with these raids nevertheless, till the end of the war. For example, we found out they were preparing to head to a certain place. So one day early in the morning we went there, and we took this group of Germans, who were going to their lookout post, captives.”
“I my opinion, I never liked them. And there were two reasons why I did not like them. One was the factory we were guarding for some time.... and then an order came, that we were to move on to another position, about ten kilometers to the left, and the Frenchmen were ordered to take upon the guarding of the factory and its property. And in just two days, the Germans attacked and chased them out of there. And the factory had been our strategic position, since it stood in a plain terrain. So this was one reason why we did not like them. And the other was that we kept a case affixed to the fenders, above the wheels. A lockable iron case. We were hiding cans with food in there for our way home, to give them to people here. It was obvious to us that there would be starvation. The cans were our rations, leftovers, which we had not eaten and we were collecting them to use them when we get home. And one night the French stole it. So this was the second reason why I never liked them.”
“When we were finally to return home, of course we were looking forward to it immensely. Rejoicing that the war was over and that we were going home. Surely, each of us experienced it differently here, but understandably we were all happy to go home. At first we remained on the demarcation line, and we stood watch there. And when we were granted permission to continue, we moved on. And that was the end of it; afterwards, each of us would go their own way and look for their families and relatives. This is obvious, you can’t really describe it. I was demobilized in 1946, meaning I have served in the army for three years. And I was demobilized to England. In England I was released from the army and I started to work for the same company where I had been employed before my draft. I stayed there for one year and then returned to Czechoslovakia. I married and began to work for one foreign company here thanks to my fluent English and German. I worked there for three years. But in 1951 the company was closed down and I was looking for a job, which I eventually found in Tatra in Praha-Smíchov, and I continued working there all my life. We did have problems with my wife, that’s true. I married in 1948, for one of the references written about my wife said that she demonstrated her anti-state attitude by having married a soldier from the West. She had to leave her position and look for another job, and I started to work for Tatra. My work was fine, I did not mind, and did not have any problems there. Only once, when I was chosen as the best employee. I was to get some reward. And one guy objected, how come I could be declared the best employee when I had been in England.”
Vilém Teller was born February 13th, 1923 in Český Krumlov. He was of Jewish origin, and after the occupation of the Sudetenland in1938 the family had to find refuge in Prague. In April 1939 Vilém Teller went to England, and till the arrival of his parents a foster family was taking care of him. In London he began to work as a locksmith and in 1942 he applied to join the army, but the company he worked for did not want to release him. He eventually joined army in 1943. At first he went through a three-month training and then he was assigned to a tank unit as a radio operator and loader. With the army he got to France; their unit followed behind the front most of the time, and his first combat experience came only at Dunkerque. This was also where the end of the war found him. After the war he was demobilized in England in 1946 and in 1947 he returned to Czechoslovakia. He worked in the Tatra factory in Praha-Smíchov. Vilém Teller died on February, 10th, 2009.
