Štěpán Vašíček

Štěpán Vašíček was born December 21st, 1927 in Vnorovy in the Hodonín district. He studied to become an electro-technician, and in 1949 he began contemplating escape from the country. He eventually decided not to carry out this idea and was drafted to the army to the tank unit in Vyškov, albeit with the "politically untrustworthy" reference from the municipal office. While in the army, during a political lecture he voiced disagreement with the communist assertion that the so-called Číhošť miracle, when the congregation saw a cross moving on the altar, was merely the priest Toufar's artifice, accomplished by pulling on wires concealed in the altar. On May 12, 1950, Vašíček was imprisoned in the Masaryk barracks in Brno. He was accused of delivering parts for a radio transmitter's assembly to the spies, which was an accusation concocted by the State police. The state tribunal in Brno sentenced him to 10 years of imprisonment for high treason. In the detention facility in Cejl in Brno, a guard broke two of his ribs when ripping the chain with a cross that Vašíček was wearing around his neck. Then he experienced prisons in Mírov, later "correction" cells in Ostrava and the Bory prison. Thanks to his vocational training, he was mostly assigned to electro workshops in all the camps, and thus avoided work in the uranium mines. In the Jáchymov camp Bratrství, the commander Paleček made him stand in - 30°C freeze for 56 hours, in snow reaching up to his waist. In the Bytíz camp, Vašíček assisted the escape of some prisoners, and wrote a letter of complaint about his treatment in the "correction" cell. He experienced this type of punishment especially in the Vojna camp. On May 12th, 1960, while in prison in Leopoldov, he was finally released. Today he is a member of the Confederation of Political prisoners and he participates in discussions with former political prisoners.

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