"I experienced the worst moments of mortal fear during the heydrichiade. Mom came and said they´d shoot her. There was an order that all persons over the age of fifteen must be registered at the police. And we had such a smaller house next to our large house. Mr. Pekárek lived there. Mom forgot to register him. She went to Doctor Tichý all scared and hesomehow arranged it. The fear I experienced as a twelve-year-old boy over the three days cannot been described. These are moments that I can never be forget."
"My mother gave up the shop first. The other businessmen could not figure it out. Professor Lebduška, for some time, was also the chairman of the national committee. He was a communist, but I I really appreciated him. He came to see the mom and told her the times were changing and recommended that he give up the trade. He meant it fatherly. And so she gave up without any fighting. Then she was a sales assistant. She first worked in our shop. Then they chased her out of it, and so she went selling to a textile shop in Nymburk. All the other tradesmen were terribly crossed with her, but they all eventually had to give up too."
"When I mentioned Dr. Tichý, the town of Lysá was divided into two halves due to him. But not even that, it was rather a smaller group that would have doctor Tichý get hanged. During the war, the mayor Hradecký was locked up, when they closed the Sokol. He did not come back from the concentration camp. MUDr. Tichý was appointed a government commissioner. He was no mayor, but a government commissioner. I have to say that he did not do any harm to anyone. After the war, the communists were terrible to him." - " They accused him of collaboration with Germans..." - "Indeed, they did, and he probably died in jail."
Pravdomil Šenk was born on February 12, 1930 in Prague to Maria and Josef Šenk. He grew up with an older brother in Lysá nad Labem, where his parents were running a hat shop. In 1936, when his father suddenly died and Marie was left alone with two children, her father Karel Amcirk, a Prague hatter, helped her with shop. In the 1930s, and in 1940 Pravdomil and his brother attended the Scouts. After the Nazis banned Junák, they participated in the last camp, which they had to end prematurely. He recalls mobilization, occupation, heydrichiade and liberation. From 1944 to 1947, he apprenticed a hatter in Mělník, then worked in the field at Horšovský Tyn border and in a factory in Nový Jičín. After 1948 he returned to Lysá nad Labem, where his mother faced a proposal to expropriate the house, which eventually did not happen. Around 1951, the mother voluntarily gave up her trade and then worked as a sales assistant. In 1950s Pravomil Šenk worked in the company Tonak in Prague. After the obligatory military service, which he served as a dog lead in 1951-1953, he was a physical education instructor of the apprentices in Hodonín. While working he attended evening studies and finally graduated from gymnasium. In 1957 he was already married in Lysá nad Labem. He graduated from a secondary industrial school and then worked as a surveyor. In 1968, at the second renewal of Junák, he served as a centre manager. All his life was a passionate tramp. He was well known under the tramp nickname Alim. Pravdomil Šenk passed away on December, the 9th, 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!
