Count Me Out!

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In 1949 Zdeněk Mikš was, after an attempt to kidnap a plane, condemned for treason and robbery to thirty years of imprisonment and afterwards he went through several prisons and labour camps. It happened probably in 1960, and the StB (State Security) tried to force Mikš to cooperate. “The screw told me to go to the headquarters. I wondered what got out.” But there was a StB member waiting for him. He finally let Mikš go and told him to think about it and that he would talk with him again. “I thought it was over, but I was wrong.” The situation happened again. The StB member was describing how Mikš could cooperate, but Mikš pretended not to understand. Time passed and the departure time of the last bus from the prison came. “The screw came to the room: ‛Let's go, we are leaving!’ In that moment I got an idea and told him: ‛Mr Commander I pretty much understand your requirements.’ He sent the screw away with words that he would get home somehow. I listened to the bus depart and told him: ‛Apparently you are talking about cooperation. Oh, you cannot count on me!” After that Zdeněk Mikš was never bothered by the StB again. He stayed in prison till 1962 when he was released during the second big amnesty.

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Zdeněk Mikš

Zdeněk Mikš was born in Dvůr Králové nad Labem on 7th October in 1926. During the occupation of Czechoslovakia Mikš attended a high school. In 1944 he was conscripted to a unit of "Technische Nothilfe". After the war in 1946 Mikš enlisted in the military air force and studied at the Air Force military academy. Because of his anticommunist attitudes he was fired from the military service in November 1948. With a group of friends Mikš made an attempt to escape to the West in two civil aircraft from the aerodrome Choceň in May 1949. Members of the group - Vlastimil Klenovský, Jaroslav Valášek, Jan Horníček, Miroslav Nový, Heda Prokopová and Zdeněk Mikš - seized two small aircraft (type Sokol) in the middle of the night on 12th of May 1949. However, there was a tragedy right before takeoff. Heda had treated overwhelmed aerodrome guard mercifully and before getting on board she had softened his shackles. When all six friends were already on board near the Mikš's aircraft the guard appeared with a rifle and shot to dead Klenovský and Prokopová. Mikš himself was seriously injured. But he was able to find a medical help in a near village, but the doctor reported him to police and Mikš was arrested. The second crew successfully took off but near the town of Sušice in Mountain Šumava the plane crashed. The pilot Nový was seriously injured; Valášek and Horníček were later detained while crossing the borders to Germany. On 31st of August in 1949 Valášek was sentenced to life imprisonment. Horníček, Nový and Mikš were sentenced to 30 years in prison. The first year Mikš was detained in Bory, than he was moved to Ilava prison in Slovakia. There he spent 18 months. In 1952 Mikš was transported to Jáchymov area to a punitive labor camp "L", where there was a tremendous amount of camp hunger. In 1953 Mikš weighed only 48 kilograms. In the middle of 50's Mikš was moved again to another labor camp Bytíz. There he worked as a welder and a repairman. The State Security had tried twice without success to recruit Mikš for cooperation during his imprisonment. Mikš stayed in Bytíz until 1962 when he was released under the second general amnesty.

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Bytíz

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In 1953, a penal labor camp was built near shaft No. 11, close to the village of Bytíz, in the Příbramsko region. It was the largest of the uranium camps in Czechoslovakia with a capacity of up to 2,000 inmates. According to the statistics of the Prison Service, in 1956, 1,894 convicts – largely political prisoners – worked in the camp. Most of the inmates were assigned to work in the uranium mines. Inmates were constantly exposed to inhumane conditions and exposed to radiation and the inhalation of granite dust which permanently damaged their health. Many of them died of lung cancer. Today, there's almost nothing left of the main camp. In 1962, the camp kitchen caved in along with two prisoners because of undermining. In reaction to this event, the original camp was closed down and a new camp was built in its vicinity, which serves as the Příbram prison today.

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Count Me Out!

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Zdeněk Mikš

Bytíz

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Count Me Out!

Hunger Strike in Labour Camp

Lager basketball

The last political prisoner at Bytíz

The noodle strike