"The flat in the castle, those were unheated rat holes. We only heated one room because we wouldn’t have been able to heat both rooms and buy coal. Just in the winter, we burned sixty quintals of nut coal and thirty quintals of briquettes in just one room. And we even went to my grandmother’s in Prague for Christmas. The day before Christmas Eve, my mom packed the coal. We arrived after three days, and we had frost on the walls and water in a bucket frozen to the bottom. It was a horrible apartment. We had to carry water from the square because it wasn’t supplied there. We carried coal up from the cellar, that also gave dad some extra work."
"I remember him as more of a person who loved animals and I never heard him complain about anything in his life. He was an awfully nice guy. He would come into the woods with me in the winter, teach me how to ski and skate. He'd walk in the woods with me, teach me to spot animal tracks. Or we'd go skiing. There was a little hill near the forest, so he showed me where to go. And at the edge of the woods, he'd build a fire and I'd ride down the hill and pedal up. And he'd toast me bread, spread it with goose fat, and I can smell it when I think of it. Those were great memories. Or in the summer we used to go swimming for a whole day, he had a car - a Minora two, so we used to go to Klimětice, where there was a beautiful pond. There he taught me to swim again."
"My brother said he was going to Horažďovice to visit mother for the holidays and he and a friend had escaped through Germany. In the refugee camp they got an application form, got to New Zealand and got married there. He married a Czech girl. They moved to Australia, but we didn't know about him at all. Of course, that didn't help my dad either. First he was in detention because of General Píka and then again because of his brother. Eventually, his pension was confiscated by order of General Čepička, and we were evicted. It was his chauffeur, Janota, who invited him to live in a castle in Kosova Hora. Fortunately, there was a good doctor there, because dad was going to work in the mines in Jáchymov. Dr. Kott and Chief Kareš from Sedlčany from the internal medicine wrote him a recommendation that he was not healthy and he was going to work only for the state farms. First he rode with oxen and then with horses."
"When he died, my mother wasn't even allowed to put his uniform in his coffin. He told my mother in the hospital that he wanted an air force uniform in the coffin, but she had to cut off the gold buttons, the spacers, everything. There wasn't a single gold button at the funeral. There was no one there. They were Kosovars from the tractor faktory. The guys there loved him so much, so there were people from the farm, from the tractor factory, Kosovars, relatives, otherwise everybody was afraid. Even though my mother put an announcement in the newspaper that my father had died and when the funeral would take place."
Dagmar Jungmannová, née Marešová, was born on 14 March 1947 in Prague. She grew up in the family of Brigadier General and the first commander of the 311th Czechoslovak Bomber Squadron of the Royal Air Force, Karel Mareš, who became a victim of communist persecution. Soon after February 1948, her father was imprisoned, first in connection with the mock trial of General Heliodor Píka and then for illegally leaving the republic for his son Karel. In 1949 he retired at his own request and received an invalid pension. The Minister of Defence Čepička demoted him to the rank of private. The family was evicted from their Prague apartment, the witness‘s father was banned from staying in Prague, and in April 1951 they moved into a castle in Kosova Hora near Sedlčany. His father was to be sent to work in the uranium mines, which he was saved from by a medical report, and he joined the state farm as an agricultural worker. After his disability pension was withdrawn, the family lived on the verge of poverty and under constant surveillance by State Security. The father died in Motol hospital on 10 June 1960. Because of the cadre assessments, the witness was unable to study and apprenticed herself to a working-class profession. In 1968 she married for the first time and until the mid-1970s she and her mother lived in undignified conditions in a castle in Kosova Hora. In May 1990, Karel Mareš was fully rehabilitated and restored to the rank of Brigadier General in memoriam. In October 2023, he received the Order of the White Lion, Military Group, 1st Class, from the President. At the time of filming (October 2023), the witness lived in Sedlčany .
Young Karel Mareš during the First World War in the ranks of Czechoslovak troops, who wore standard uniforms of the Italian army with a red and white ribbon on the collar
Young Karel Mareš during the First World War in the ranks of Czechoslovak troops, who wore standard uniforms of the Italian army with a red and white ribbon on the collar
Air Force Major Karel Mareš (left) receives thanks and appreciation from Bulgarian Tsar Boris III (centre in white) for a demonstration flight at Sofia airport, 28 May 1935
Air Force Major Karel Mareš (left) receives thanks and appreciation from Bulgarian Tsar Boris III (centre in white) for a demonstration flight at Sofia airport, 28 May 1935
Karel Mareš (right), as the first commander of the 311th Czechoslovak Bomber Squadron with Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš in Great Britain, 1940-1942
Karel Mareš (right), as the first commander of the 311th Czechoslovak Bomber Squadron with Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš in Great Britain, 1940-1942
The general's son, Karel Mareš (*1925), "He said he was going to Horažďovice to visit his mother for the holidays and he and a friend had escaped across the border to Germany. He got to New Zealand, married a Czech girl and they moved to Australia. Of course, that didn't help my dad either. First he was in jail because of General Píka, and later because of his brother. But we didn't find out that he had fled abroad until just before my father's death," says Dagmar Jungmannová about her half-brother Karel.
The general's son, Karel Mareš (*1925), "He said he was going to Horažďovice to visit his mother for the holidays and he and a friend had escaped across the border to Germany. He got to New Zealand, married a Czech girl and they moved to Australia. Of course, that didn't help my dad either. First he was in jail because of General Píka, and later because of his brother. But we didn't find out that he had fled abroad until just before my father's death," says Dagmar Jungmannová about her half-brother Karel.
Degraded, evicted from Prague and humiliated over and over again by the communists, war veteran Karel Mareš and his daughter Dagmar, Kosova Hora, 1950s
Degraded, evicted from Prague and humiliated over and over again by the communists, war veteran Karel Mareš and his daughter Dagmar, Kosova Hora, 1950s
He lived out the last years of his life as an agricultural worker for the State Farm, ill, on the verge of poverty and still under the watch of State Security, Kosova Hora, 1950s
He lived out the last years of his life as an agricultural worker for the State Farm, ill, on the verge of poverty and still under the watch of State Security, Kosova Hora, 1950s
Karel Mareš died on 10 June 1960 and the last farewell to the war veteran took place at the Motol Crematorium in Prague. "They did not leave us alone even when he died. My mother was not even allowed to put his uniform in his coffin, he wished to be dressed in an air force uniform. She had to cut off the gold buttons, the spacers, everything. Only Kosovars came to the funeral - guys from the tractor and people from the farm who liked Dad. They loved him. The others were afraid to come," recalls the general's daughter.
Karel Mareš died on 10 June 1960 and the last farewell to the war veteran took place at the Motol Crematorium in Prague. "They did not leave us alone even when he died. My mother was not even allowed to put his uniform in his coffin, he wished to be dressed in an air force uniform. She had to cut off the gold buttons, the spacers, everything. Only Kosovars came to the funeral - guys from the tractor and people from the farm who liked Dad. They loved him. The others were afraid to come," recalls the general's daughter.
Funeral farewell to General and Commander of the 311th Czechoslovak Bomber Squadron RAF Karel Mareš. "Professor Niederle from Motol told us that if my father had stayed in the ranks of the army and attended regular medical check-ups, the carcinogen could have been discovered in time and it might not have turned out the way it did," recalls the general's daughter Dagmar Jungmannová
Funeral farewell to General and Commander of the 311th Czechoslovak Bomber Squadron RAF Karel Mareš. "Professor Niederle from Motol told us that if my father had stayed in the ranks of the army and attended regular medical check-ups, the carcinogen could have been discovered in time and it might not have turned out the way it did," recalls the general's daughter Dagmar Jungmannová
Chief of Staff of the 22nd Helicopter Air Base Colonel Alois Matýska with Dagmar Jungman at the unveiling of the memorial plaque to her father General Karel Mareš, Tábor, 2015
Chief of Staff of the 22nd Helicopter Air Base Colonel Alois Matýska with Dagmar Jungman at the unveiling of the memorial plaque to her father General Karel Mareš, Tábor, 2015
"Don't look at the quantity" The motto, which was followed by Jan Žižka and later by Karel Mareš, who incorporated the slogan into the emblem of the 311th Czechoslovak Bomber Squadron of the RAF, Kosova Hora, June 2023
"Don't look at the quantity" The motto, which was followed by Jan Žižka and later by Karel Mareš, who incorporated the slogan into the emblem of the 311th Czechoslovak Bomber Squadron of the RAF, Kosova Hora, June 2023
In 1951, by order of the Ministry of National Defence, the family of Karel Mareš was evicted from their Prague apartment. Prague was forbidden to General Mareš and they lived in a castle in the village of Kosová Hora near Sedlčany, where they lived in poor conditions.
In 1951, by order of the Ministry of National Defence, the family of Karel Mareš was evicted from their Prague apartment. Prague was forbidden to General Mareš and they lived in a castle in the village of Kosová Hora near Sedlčany, where they lived in poor conditions.
Špejchar in Kosovo Hora. On the ground floor, Antonín Janota had a Motex plant for the production of engine oil filters for cars and aircraft. For a short time, the expatriate and former general Karel Mareš worked here, around the 1950s.
Špejchar in Kosovo Hora. On the ground floor, Antonín Janota had a Motex plant for the production of engine oil filters for cars and aircraft. For a short time, the expatriate and former general Karel Mareš worked here, around the 1950s.
Dagmar Jungmannová with a photo of her father Karel Mareš, the first commander of the Czechoslovak 311th Bombardment Squadron, General Karel Mareš. Filming for Memory of Nations, October 2023, Sedlčany
Dagmar Jungmannová with a photo of her father Karel Mareš, the first commander of the Czechoslovak 311th Bombardment Squadron, General Karel Mareš. Filming for Memory of Nations, October 2023, Sedlčany
Dagmar Jungmannová with a photo of her father Karel Mareš, the first commander of the Czechoslovak 311th Bombardment Squadron, General Karel Mareš. Filming for Memory of Nations, October 2023, Sedlčany
Dagmar Jungmannová with a photo of her father Karel Mareš, the first commander of the Czechoslovak 311th Bombardment Squadron, General Karel Mareš. Filming for Memory of Nations, October 2023, Sedlčany
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