Horní Slavkov (Camp XII.)

former communist prison camp · U Lesoparku 747/1, 357 31 Horní Slavkov, Czech Republic

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We were running at night

Available in: English | Česky

Karel Kukal was among the eleven prisoners who decided to escape from the shaft no. 14 on 15 October 1951. The prisoners interned in camp XII. "We escaped during the Sunday night shift when there were only three guards. We agreed to pretend there was a water pump accident. We reported an urgent control and repair. Of course it was just an excuse. Three guys would go up with us, one guard went up too and in the workshop, they banged him over the head and disarmed him. Then they went back to the shaft with the gun. There was a new eager guard with an automatic gun on his back. Úlehla pointed his gun at his to put his hands up and he tried to get hold of the automatic so he shot him. We took the rest of guards down the shaft in a cage and started running away."

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Karel Kukal – biography

Karel Kukal was born on 1927 in Prague to a family of an entrepreneur; he studied the gymnasium. Following February 1948 he actively participated in the third resistance. After 1945 he was a member of the youth organisation of the National Socialistic party that won his sympathies because of his anti-communist attitude. They published a magazine, distributed leaflets and white papers prior to the elections in 1948. He was arrested and sentenced to prison in an associated process with Milan Choc to serve seven years of imprisonment. On 15 October 1951 he took part in a group escape from the shaft number 14 near Horní Slavkov. The escape was unsuccessful as Karel Kukal was caught on the following day and sentenced to prison for another twenty five years. He was released in 1962 amnesty. In 1968 he emigrated to Switzerland where he became of the founding members of exile scouting. He wrote a book called 'Ten crosses' dealing with escaping from Jáchymov mines. Currently he lives in Bern.

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Horní Slavkov (Camp XII.)

Available in: English | Česky

The camp was founded in 1951 and became well-known in the same year because of an eleven prisoner escape on the night of 15 October. One of the prison guards was fatally shot during the escape. However, the escape failed when on the second day, most of the refugees were hunted down and shot. Two of them managed to remain at large for a bit longer, but they were eventually shot as well. Two apprehended refugees were later sentenced to death. The only ones who survived from the group were Karel Kukal and Zdeněk Štich, who remained mentally and physically scarred for the rest of his life after the brutal interrogations. The camp was closed down in August 1954 and the extraction of uranium in Slavkov was discontinued a year later.