“When the Germans blew up our bridges in Přerov, a paving stone from Tyrš bridge fell on our balcony on the third floor where our flat was. It is about one kilometre from that bridge. We hid that stone for a long time. I do not know where it is now.”
“We experienced an air raid in Přerov, it was about 1944. And I know that I was playing the piano at that moment and they called me: ‘Come and have a look, they are flying low!‘ So we went to have a look and the explosions could be heard suddenly. And we then run down the stairs to the cellar, but it was already late because nothing exploded since then.”
“I remember an event. It happened at school. We were more or less taught by a parish priest, because the headmistress of the Czech school was already German, and the parish priest was the only one there who knew Czech. He was giving a lecture on the creation of the world and that everything around us was its subject. And I took out a map of the Republic and asked: ‘Did God create all of this?‘ And he became quite angry and told me to hide it immediately. And I did not understand if it was because I was disturbing class or because he knew that the map was not valid and that it was wrong. It made a very bad impression on me, which is why I told everyone. Well and the other resident of our house in Nový Jičín accompanied me back home because he was retired and could take the long way to school and pick me up and take me home. Because there was a danger that someone would hurt me.”
“And we had a radio and used to listen to the news at seven o´clock in the evening. And it was clear that the war was coming. Everyone was afraid. And I remember that dad enlisted and we carried his suitcase to the railway station on a pram. And we three children were then alone with our mum. And when the occupation of Sudetenland started, I remember that we escaped by taxi to Přerov to my mother's aunt, whose name was [Marie] Kozánková and who was the wife of the Přerov organ player and director of the music school."
Milan Geryk was born to teachers Adolf and Zdeňka Geryk on August 3, 1932 in Nový Jičín. At the end of the 1930s, the town experienced growing tensions between the majority German and minority Czech population. In early October 1938, after the occupation of the Sudetenland by Nazi Germany, the family had to leave the town in a hurry. He then lived through the war in Přerov, where he witnessed the marches of German troops as well as air raids by Allied pilots. In May 1945 in Přerov he witnessed the anti-Nazi uprising and the destruction of the local infrastructure by retreating German troops. After the war, he played sports in the Sokol, with which he participated in the XIth All-Sokol Slet in Prague in 1948. In 1956 he graduated from the University of Civil Engineering in Brno, where he then began teaching as an assistant. For religious reasons he later had to give up teaching. From 1961 to 1991 he worked at Přerov Engineering Works on the development and research of rotary kilns. In 1965, he married Libuša Ingrová, and two years later their daughter Iveta was born. From 1991 he taught mathematics at the university for the next ten years. At the time of the interview (2021), he was still an active member of the Přerov Sokol and the chess club TJ Spartak Přerov. Milan Geryk died on August 20, 2022.
Grandmother Zdeňka Kittrichová holds her first-born grandson Milan Geryk, the son of Adolf Geryk and Zdeňka Geryková (right),
with aunt Anka Kittrichová (left), Starý Jičín, 15 April 1933
Grandmother Zdeňka Kittrichová holds her first-born grandson Milan Geryk, the son of Adolf Geryk and Zdeňka Geryková (right),
with aunt Anka Kittrichová (left), Starý Jičín, 15 April 1933
The Geryks from Štramberk and the cows Bělana and Březa in front of their house (in the foreground is uncle Ferenc whom they visited in the Sudetenland using a permit during the war), Štramberk, 3 July 1933
The Geryks from Štramberk and the cows Bělana and Březa in front of their house (in the foreground is uncle Ferenc whom they visited in the Sudetenland using a permit during the war), Štramberk, 3 July 1933
The house of Milan Geryk's parents in Nový Jičín, entrance from Eichendorf Street, now Gregorova Street; Zdeňka Geryková with her eldest son Milan, circa 1935
The house of Milan Geryk's parents in Nový Jičín, entrance from Eichendorf Street, now Gregorova Street; Zdeňka Geryková with her eldest son Milan, circa 1935
Milan Geryk (right) next to his son-in-law Hynek Poljak and his five sons, right to left: Marian, Lucian on the vaulting box, Patrik in the back, Darian, Kristian - all Sokol members; Sokol gym in Přerov, 2013
Milan Geryk (right) next to his son-in-law Hynek Poljak and his five sons, right to left: Marian, Lucian on the vaulting box, Patrik in the back, Darian, Kristian - all Sokol members; Sokol gym in Přerov, 2013
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