„They caught me in Germany. There… that he, like, that I be in Zittau and he, like, in Zittau, he would take me over the border, that he’d exchange money for me. But he exchanged the money and then he went to snitch on me. And I was sitting on a train, and I… I remember well what hisname was, one Ernst Meerblick. And he lived in Amalienstrasse 22. There I stayed for one night and he exchanged some money for me, bought a train ticket for me and seated me on the train. But after a few minutes, the police came and then it started to drag on. Jeebus, now I can’t remember what was his name, I don’t know whether I was in Rumburk, I don’t recall this. Bit I remember that when I was… a police officer came, called my name and told me to go to the window and told me that Ernst Morblich Meerblick is dead. Because, I don’t know. I say, he deserved it, he got me in jail so he deserved it. I don’t know whether it’s true or not, I don’t know.”
„I was in solitary confinement for two weeks until they let me out. But the inmates in the labour camp did what they wanted. Especially in winter, they would come and pour water. Space, erm… the cell was not large, maybe three by three metres, no more. But there was no bed, nothing, one slept on the brick floor. There was not much food but from time to time, we would get some. Depended on which camp it was. They did what they wanted, in the camp. The inmated were mostly thieves, thieves they were or something like that. They were scum. I got in the solitary confinement beccause that jacket which the foreman gave me so that I wouldn’t be that cold, and I had to paint a red circle on its back, so one guy snitched on me that I wanted to run away. So that’s how I ended up in the solitary confinement. Then they needed a welder so they let me out. But it took two weeks. I was frozen to the bone. I’m still surprised that I managed to stand it for so long.”
"'I can’t bide you farewell, my dear, even though I love you, and before the sun returns in the morning, I’ll walk all alone. And only because I loved my country, I’m now behind the bars.’ That’s what they taught me in the Pankrác prison. There were many musicians. That’s why I always say that the discovery of communism was a really bad idea, it was terrible, those were not people, they were monsters.”
Jiří Kleker was born on the 20th of June in 1929. He grew up in a poor family in Šárovcova Lhota in the Hořice region and his father died when Jiří was five years old. He apprenticed as a blacksmith and he worked as such for several years. In 1947, he got married but a year later, he decided to escape to the West. He did not manage to do so, he was arrested by the police and sentenced to two years of forced labour in the Zápotocký mine in Doubí in the Kladno coal mining region. He escaped from there after a few months and he spent more than a year in hiding. He was arrested during his other attempt to illegally cross the borders in Zittau in Germany. He spent the major part of his prison term in the uranium mines in Jáchymov. After having served in the army, he got married and along with his wife and his two children, they lived in Frýdlant. He died in Frýdlant on the 22nd of October in 2022.
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!
