"When you found out you were going to America, the doctors and everything, there were check-ups with doctors... medical and everything... interrogations, I don't know who it was, I think it was some CIC. And from there they sent us by train to Bremerhaven, Germany, up, Italy, Austria, Germany, to Bremerhaven. They had a beautiful American camp in Bremerhaven, waiting place there, they brought the people there, waiting for the ship to take the refugees to America. It was good there, nice food, I even learned a few English words there. The weather was terrible, it was autumn and Germany in autumn is not pleasant, there were a lot of people from all nationalities waiting for the boats, about two or three weeks, and suddenly the boats arrived there. These were military ships taking soldiers to Europe and refugees back to America. So, two boats came in and I was on one..."
"I am Czech at heart. That will never change. That's... that will never change, in my heart, what I feel. I feel Czech. I think that when we are born, tabula rasa, that there is nothing there, that everything is added to us, that we learn. Something happens here that makes us Czech, whatever. Because I lived at home for eighteen years and I feel Czech... I lived in Texas for thirty-five years, it's a good state, but I don't feel Texan, I feel Czech..."
"It was such a hunt... The Russians call it a pogrom, it's a hunt for people, to all at once quickly arrest all those who are dangerous for us, for communism, the schools were closed, there were professors, intelligentsia, soldiers who had been working in England were arrested. Suddenly there was fear. There was such a time of mistrust and suddenly there was fear. After the war, it was kind of quiet and you didn't know what was going to happen, and suddenly it exploded like that. And so, people didn't know what to think, who to trust, who not to trust... It wasn't so much like during the war, because the Czech nationality is that when there's danger, the Czechs are together, they all work together, but here, it was Czech against Czech, so there was no trust, there was fear, there was no trust. You listened to London, who said maybe there will be a legion... they were arresting pilots from England, they were arresting people, you didn't know if you were going to be arrested or not, you didn't know who was a communist and who wasn't, suddenly people were divided for and against, so it was such a... such an uncertain time..."
Joe (Josef) Vítovec was born on November 20, 1930 in Čkyně, Šumava. There he lived through moments of hope during the mobilization, saw the tears of disgrace of the returning conscripts, and struggled through the war years with his family. During the post-war years, however, he found it difficult to come to terms with the emerging communist ideology; as students at the grammar school, they ran a satirical magazine directed against the communists as well and felt the pressure growing. When the February coup came and his friend was arrested, it was clear that there was nothing to wait for. Josef Vítovec left the republic a month after the February communist coup and fled to Western Europe. Rumor had it that legions were being trained in the American zone to liberate Czechoslovakia. This proved to be a chimera, however, and two years of moving around refugee camps and searching for the next path in life followed. In 1950, he managed to get to his dream America. There, he signed up for the United States Air Force because he was promised he would become a pilot. But it soon became clear that without an education, it would not work. So, he started working in the Air Force, where he soon worked his way up, and then spent his life leading teams that trained pilots - working on simulators, instructional videos and manuals. At the same time, he studied during his hard work to make his dream come true – to become a pilot. But by the time he finished his studies, it was too late to start his career as a pilot. After active duty and a brief interlude in the private sector, he returned to the Air Force as a civilian employee. He remained there until 1995 when he retired. He and his wife have one daughter. In 2022, he was living in the state of Washington. His life story is reflected in the book Full Circle: A Refugee‘s Tale.
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!
