The Free Republic of Tortuga
The dream of every group of little children is to have their own clubhouse. In the town of Nymburk, there was a little group of Scouts during the war years united around Oskar, whose true name was Otokar Randák. Their dream of a clubhouse came true. This little group of twelve Scouts could use a small room for their meetings. Originally that room was designated for a housemaid. It was situated in the villa of the Ruml family. The parents of Karel Ruml – one of the Scouts nicknamed Sergej – offered the Scouts from the Club of the Young Announcer a shelter in the course of World War II. At that time, they did not know that their villa was about to become The Free Republic of Tortuga. Oskar recalls: “We loved adventurous novels about pirates and buccaneers. We were attracted by water - the more so because we have the Elbe River in Nymburk. We were intrigued that the pirates seized an island in the Caribbean Sea and called it ‘The Free republic of Tortuga.’ Therefore we founded our own Tortuga in Nymburk.” After Scouting was prohibited and a part of the Ruml family went into exile, the villa fell into disrepair. It served as living quarters for socially disadvantaged citizens. In the beginning of the 1990s, Eva and Karel Ruml got their villa back in the course of the process of property restitution. They donated it to the Scouts again. The Scouts repaired it and they have been using it and taking care of it until today.
Hodnocení
Abyste mohli hodnotit musíte se přihlásit!
Trasy
Příběh není součastí žádné trasy.
Komentáře
Otokar Randák
Mr. Otokar Randák – Scout nickname Oskar – was born on October 18, 1926, in the town of Nymburk. In 1937, he joined the 2nd Scout troop of the Junák in Nymburk which was orientated towards paddling. After the occupation of Czechoslovakia and after the dissolution of the Junák organization, a part of the 2nd Scout troop in Nymburk decided to continue in their activities under Oskar’s leadership because he was its eldest member. This group later got registered in the Club of the Young Announcer under the number 1717 named “The boys of nature.” In 1943, five members formed the crew of the sailing boat “Vorvaň” that they had constructed themselves. During the war years, the leader of the 2nd Scout troop and commander of the fire brigade and the civil anti-airstrike protection, Otto Hamtil, (nicknamed Sáhib), organized a secret training of the Scouts. His trainees created a relay race for delivering intelligence to the paratroopers dropped in the area of the Protectorate, (they were called “The Bandits” and later “The Intelligence Brigade”). In the last year of the war this intelligence group became a part of the so-called “disposal squad” of the firefighters in Nymburk. In the period between the May Uprising against the German occupiers and the middle of June 1945, the disposal squad formed the guard of the national committee in Nymburk. They also worked as liaisons using motorcycles and bikes while they defended the bridge over the Elbe River. Right after the war, Otokar Randák and his group took part in the building of a port of the water Scouts called “The Blue Fleet” in Nymburk. However, then came February 1948 and Oskar took part in the protest march of the students to the Prague Castle. This led to Oscar’s expulsion from school and Oskar then was forced to join the auxiliary technical battalion. Oskar finished his studies at the university after 1989. He worked in the power-engineering industry for his whole life which presented him with opportunities to travel around the so-called “allied world” and see the construction of power stations. He visited China and Vietnam for example. Presently, Oskar is leader of the Old-Scout club of the water Scouts called "The Main Port” and he is the co-founder of the Scout training center in the Tortuga villa in Nymburk which was given back to the Scouts by the Ruml family.
