Flowers to the camp

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Savings bank clerk Antonín Axamit was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison for high treason just before his wedding to Miluše Axamitová, (then Hesová). He was arrested for helping three university students cross the state border, in their attempt to flee the country. He was imprisoned in the Vojna camp in the Jáchymovsko region. Close to the camp, there was a small house that was used for prison visits. In this house Miluše Hesová would often visit her future husband Antonín. “Once I went there to see Antonín on his name day in June. Even though it was forbidden to give any objects to the prisoners, I thought that maybe they would allow me at least give him a flower. He loved wildflowers, so I had gathered in some flowers from his garden, and brought them during a visit," she recalled. The visits would take place in a room that was divided in the middle by mesh. The prisoner could speak with his visitor through that mesh for only a short time, and each prisoner was watched by one or two guards. Antonin Axamit wasn’t allowed to take the flowers: “I had to take them back, and because it was near Svatá hora, I took the flowers there instead."

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Miluse Axamitová

Miluse Axamitová, née Hesová, was born in 1929 and comes from Zemětice near Merklín. After having studied at the teaching institute in Plzeň, she worked as a teacher at various elementary schools in western Bohemia. When, in 1949, she was teaching in Gdyně, she met the savings bank clerk Antonín Axamit, (born 1913). They started dating. But shortly before their planned wedding, Axamit was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison for high treason. The reason was that he had helped three college students to cross the border. Miluše Hesová waited ten years for him while he was imprisoned in camps in the Jáchymov area and in the Vojna camp. He was released under an amnesty in May 1960. In August of the same year, Miluše Hesová and Antonín Axamit married. They moved to the region of Plzeňsko for work and then they settled directly in Plzeň. Antonín Axamit worked until his retirement for a construction company. Mrs. Axamitová taught at an elementary school in Plzeň and Litice until her retirement in 1984. They had two daughters who were not allowed to study because of the communist past of their father and the undisguised Christian faith of the family. Since 1989, Mr. Axamit was a member of the Confederation of Political Prisoners, where he was due to his illness often represented by his wife, who still works for the Confederation. Antonín Axamit died in 2000.

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Lešetice, the visiting house of the Vojna camp

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A small house where family members could visit the prisoners was located nearby the Vojna camp. The house was far enough from the camp that the visitors could never actually see the places where the inmates worked and lived. The inmates were allowed to send their families letters provided that they worked well and met their quotas. The letters were written on lined paper of the size of a post card and many parts were blacked out by the censorship. After 1957, the regime relaxed a little and the inmates were allowed to send two-paged letters.

Lešetice, the visiting house of the Vojna camp

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Flowers to the camp

Miluse Axamitová