Ladislav Hošek

“My name is Ladislav Hošek and I was born August 4, 1924. My parents were employed in the Fez company, my father was working in a different company than my mom, who was working on fezes and berets. My mom died in Čkyně when she was 84, my father died of pneumonia. He was an avid angler, and in autumn he waded in the river and he got pneumonia and died when I was seven years old. My mom never married again, so that I would not have another father. Things were different back then. Today I come to a class reunion of my pupils, and the ladies introduce themselves in the beginning, sharing what each of them had experienced in the past few years, and some of them say, as if nothing happened, that they were now married for the fourth time, as if she was telling them that she went to buy mint bonbons. I lived in Čkyně for about a month after my birth, and since my parents had a flat in Strakonice, we moved there. In Strakonice I and my mom were living alone, after some ten years we exchanged the flat and I went to work as a shop-assistant. I did not want to go to grocery stores, they seemed dirty to me, I wanted to work in a textile shop. But my boss had hired someone a year before me, and there would be too many of us, he did not want another apprentice. But his son had been my classmate for nine years, and he asked him to hire me since I was his friend. So his dad made an exception.”

“I sent a letter to Darebný, he was the best swimmer in Strakonice and a sergeant during his military service. He had an awesome athletic figure. I needed to tell him that the illegal organization was counting on him, that he was to choose ten people close to his workplace whom he would call when needed and get tasks assigned. I had to be absolutely sure this letter would not get into anybody else’s hands. I was watching the postman who was delivering letters in the workshop. I had a time plan, what time he was coming to Darebný, and the time span was some ten minutes. I wrote the letter, without signing it, what he was to do and urging him not to tell anyone, that we knew about him and that we would contact him when the time comes. I sent this letter and I followed the postman. I went for a chat with a friend of mine, who was about 30 metres from the place, in order to watch him. The postman came and I saw him giving my letter to Darebný. He opened it – the postman went away – closed the envelope and hid it. It was clear he knew what was going on, and that he would not talk about it anywhere, and that I could count on ten people to be ready with Darebný. This was the way you had to work. He did not suspect anything and only after the war I told him that the letter was from me.”

“We were writing letters to German citizens and officials. Like when they lost in Stalingrad, or in Kursk, where they lost a tank battle. At that time I already had a co-worker, warrant-officer Prokopius, he was the deputy of the police chief in Strakonice. When he was on night duty, I would come to him around nine in the evening and we would write letters to a few Germans. To Moravec (a German official in Strakonice who had a Czech name – auth.’s note) in Czech, but there were several letters which I had to translate. Germans were coming to my German boss, and thus I knew German very well, and I had also studied the language before. The purpose of these letters was to make them think about themselves, that when the revolution came, each of them would have to account for what he had done to Czech people. To make them realize that the German army was going downhill and that the war would end in Berlin. The Germans will lose and then there will be a time of reckoning for all who had hurt the Czech nation. I met some of them the day or two after, and from their faces I could tell it probably had some effect on them.”

“One day the captain told me: ´I have a big task for you. I don’t need to remind you that nobody is to know about it, not even a hint is to be let out. It is a task related to a foreign country. We need to get a complete plan of all the buildings in the arms factory, it has to be marked with what is produced where, how many people there are, if there are some detached buildings like a canteen or a kitchen. Everything needs to be in it. The plan is concealed in some place. If you find it, do not wait for the next month and come immediately.´ – ´I will do what I can.´ – ´But you must not get caught.´ On the way back I kept thinking how to do it. My direct superior at work was Mr. Beneš, a Sokol member. He was a chemist and the supervisor of a chromium-plating workshop and he knew that I was involved in something. His silence was absolutely guaranteed, because he was always letting me leave on Saturdays at 1 p. m. to catch a train, while I was supposed to work till 4 p. m. I had to talk to him and I made a plan: ´Mr. Beneš, I have to talk to you today, you need to help me do what I have to do, but I am not allowed to tell you what it is for.´ – ´And what do you need?´ – ´You go to see chief clerk Dvořák, right?´ Dvořák was a civil emergency planning manager for the whole arms factory. ´Yes.´ – ´I need a plan of the factory, and I would like to ask you if you could call an extraordinary chemical evacuation drill in the arms factory, which would take about an hour. You would borrow the plan from the chief clerk, we would agree what time you would be back – and you would lock me in your office. You don’t need a plan, you know all the buildings by heart. You would do your evacuation drill, unlock your office, and I would leave the documents there on the table for you. I would have copied them and put my copy in my pocket. Nobody would suspect anything.´ And so it was. I only know that two or three people were trying the doorknob, but I did not care who it was. The door was locked. Perhaps they came in afterwards. But what mattered was that in the lining of my coat I was carrying this plan to Pilsen. He was immensely happy that he could fulfil this plan. And now he asks me: ´You are not even curious what we shall do with it?´ I had not asked about it, he forbade it. This was undercover work. ´Aren’t you curious what we will do with it? You are young, but I know you through and through, so I will tell you: I have other people as well, just as I have you for Strakonice. Today in the evening or tomorrow morning my Prague messenger is coming, he comes here just as you do. He will get the plan and go with it to the international express train on the route Vienna, Brno, Prague, Dresden, Leipzig, Berlin, Hamburg. He will come to this train about half an hour before departure, and look for the man who works as a cook on this express. He will pass him the envelope, it is up to him how he will do it. After that guy’s duty as a cook and waiter is over, he will get off in Hamburg and go to the city. The Vienna – Hamburg route is very long, and the train waits in Hamburg for several hours before departing for its return journey. The guy will meet a man who works for us, in a park, give him the materials, and his task will then be getting this envelope to London to our government.”