"My father and I were near the Škoda factory when the bombs started falling. We were lying on the side of the road near the Asap factory." - "Where was that? By the agrarian school?" - "It was near the agrarian school. There was an interesting situation at the Škoda factory, that one bomb hit the department where my father worked. The driving department was destroyed. It took long to restore after that. Another interesting situation was that at the time of the air raid my grandmother Linhartová was visiting our family in Habeš and she was walking back to her place which was opposite the Beneš school. Bombs were falling, when she was walking past the Škoda factory, it was flying past her. When she got to her place, others told her, 'Mrs. Linhartová, come to hide in the basement, there's an air raid.' She didn't want to but she went eventually. And when she got to the cellar, a bomb fell on the house next door. That was an interesting situation."
"When the German soldiers arrived, my father came home. I was just about to leave to school. My father told me: 'Be careful, the German army is here, so everyone will be driving on the right.' I used to walk past the restaurant U Měšťáků to Hřbitovní Street and then to Beneš school. - "Mr. Hrůša, tell me... as we are talking about the time of the Second World War and we know that there was a strong Jewish minority in Mladá Boleslav. Do you have any memories of fellow Jews or classmates from Beneš school?" - "The Jews were concentrated in the castle at that time, and of course they didn't have it easy. There were several Jewish families also in Habeš who did not have an easy life." - "Did you know them personally?" - "I knew some of them personally. I can't remember their names though. Their children were my age and we plying together in Habeš." - "How you felt about the fact that they had to go to Terezín?" - "It was not easy for us, knowing that they were taken to Terezín. Knowing today how they were treated." - "Did any of the people you knew come back?" - "I don't remember who came back. I don't know anyone who did."
Vlastimil Hrůša was born on 19 November 1931 in Mladá Boleslav. His father worked as the head of the driving department in a Škoda car factory in Boleslav, his mother as a seamstress. Towards the end of the Second World War, on 9 May 1945, he and his father hid along the roadside during the bombing of Mladá Boleslav by the Red Army Air Force. Vlastimil grew up near the football pitch SK Aston Villa Mladá Boleslav and he also played for the club in the youth. He attended Sokol and Scout, and spent his youth mainly in sports. After graduating from the Boleslav Grammar School, he decided to study at the Faculty of Education of Charles University, with a focus on natural sciences. From 1955 he worked as a teacher in various places, eventually staying until his retirement in Vinohrady, Prague. In 2006 he received a special fair play award from the Boleslav Journal for his lifelong contribution to the development of sport in the region. In 2022 he lived in Mladá Boleslav. He died on April 15, 2024.
Hrdinové 20. století odcházejí. Nesmíme zapomenout. Dokumentujeme a vyprávíme jejich příběhy. Záleží vám na odkazu minulých generací, na občanských postojích, demokracii a vzdělávání? Pomozte nám!
