Update: 06.05.2022 15:25
Released: 06.05.2022, 11:55

Prague – Resistance fighters from World War II, soldiers and people who helped promote the army and its traditions today receive high honors in the Ministry of Defence. They were awarded by the Minister of Defense Jana ernochová (ODS). Nearly two dozen figures received the award.

On the occasion of Victory Day (May 8), ernochová described giving awards to figures who contributed to the country, its defense, or the development of the army as an established tradition. According to him, the Czechs have many heroes who should not be forgotten. “Those who have won our country, fought for freedom and democracy, deserve our great respect,” he said. He made special mention of the participants in the anti-Nazi resistance. “These patriots do not hesitate to risk their lives for our country,” he said.

Today, eight men and women who took part in the resistance to Nazi occupation during World War II receive honors in memoriam. For example, Jaroslav Dobrovolský, a member of the resistance organization State Defense, was sent to the Mauthausen concentration camp after being captured by the Gestapo, where he died in April 1942.

Several other award-winning union members such as František Hieke or the partners of Miroslav and Anna Moravc and Vladimír and Anna Vyhnis also died in Mauthausen. Their daughters Anna Kuželová and Alena Staňková took over the honors of Moravcov and Vyhnis, who were very minor at the time of their parents’ murder and spent most of the remaining war time in an orphanage at the Jenerálka compound in Prague.

Moravec and Vyhnis were captured by the Gestapo and later executed for assisting the paratroopers Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, who managed to attack the deputy imperial patron Reinhard Heydrich 80 years ago. Kuželová told reporters today that his father helped the resistance fighters, for example, financially or by getting food. According to him, resistance fighters welcome the fact that, as a businessman, he has the opportunity to save on food stamps. “This is very much needed in Prague for unregistered people, like paratroopers,” he said. According to him, he knew, for example, Nováks, whose daughter Jindřiška took Kubiš’s bicycle from the scene of the murder.

He described the award as satisfaction for his parents because the attack on Heydrich was not appreciated during the communist era. “I thought I would never live to see anything like that again,” he said. He decided to come and receive the award in person due to his health problems.

Staňková’s father joined the resistance group helping paratroopers in the Benešov region. “He was supposed to help, among other things, find accommodation for Dr. Lyčka in the group,” he told reporters. Břetislav Lyčka was a doctor who treated Kubiš and Gabčík after the murder. He shot himself before his Gestapo capture. According to Staňková, the award for parents is too long.

Rastislav Váhala, who took part in the anti-Nazi resistance and became a defender of General Heliodor Pika after February 1948, and Vladislav Perutka, who fought in both domestic and foreign resistance, were also awarded.

army award