“Wherever we came, we became the center of attention.”
Luděk Šácha was born on 28 June 1931 in Prague. His father, Josef Šácha, worked as a sales agent for a drilling company, his mother Anna was in the household. Mr. Šácha‘s brother Karel emigrated to Switzerland in 1969. Mr. Šácha went on to study at a French grammar school and thereafter at a language school. In 1947 then 16-year-old Mr. Šácha decided to flee to Germany. He packed his belongings and crossed the border near to Železná ruda. He then continued his journey by train through Germany in the direction of the Franco-German border. After three days, however, he was intercepted by the French occupation authorities in Germany and arrested. After a trial he was sent to a youth home (Jugendheim) in the city of Zell am Wiesenthal, where he spent two months. He was eventually returned to Czechoslovakia. After his return home, he attended a business college in Prague. After the Communists took over the power in Czechoslovakia in February 1948, together with some of his classmates he began plotting illegal activities against the new regime. The whole group of students was arrested on 10 March, 1949, during class. They were held in custody and their trial was held on 22 - 23 June 1949 in Prague. Because of his adolescent age, Mr. Šácha was tried as a juvenile offender and originally sentenced to 14 months in prison for treason. In the appellate procedure, he was finally sentenced to 18 months unconditionally. He served his term in the Institute for juvenile offenders in Zámrsk. He worked in a carpenter workshop. Although the regime in Zámrsk was strict, the warders behaved decently. After his release from the Institute in 1950, he started to work for the AVIA Čakovice works. In 1952 he was drafted to the army and served in a PTP (auxiliary technical battalions - note by the translator). He first worked in Komárno, then in Dubnice, Chotusice, Pardubice and Chrudim. He got married in 1955 with his girlfriend Zdenička which he met thanks to his engagement in the prison music band. He later worked as a car mechanic in Pardubice and after his family moved he started to work for the TESLA Nuclear Research Institute as an electronic appliances operator. He graduated from the Technical University and earned a degree in engineering. After 1989 he held the position of the mayor of Zdiby-Veltěž for three consecutive terms.