Kutiny, wilderness

underground factory Diana and prison camp · Řikonín 18, 594 51 Řikonín, Czech Republic

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Salt over Gold

Available in: English | Česky

Because Ferdinand Maneth was a soldier in the Wehrmacht forces, he was taken to the camp for captives in Kutiny near Újezd u Tišnova in 1947. He did not have to go to work because he was wounded, so he used to stay in the camp. The captives lived in twenty-eight wooden barracks there and although there was a hospital, during the existence of the camp 118 people died there who were buried in Balákovo pole. Ferdinand Maneth still thinks that most of those people died of a lack of iodine: “My mother could come once a month and give me a package. If I did not have it I would die like the others. There died so many people, I do not know maybe hundreds, and all of that because we did not have food. Intentionally they gave us unsalted hulled grain soup. Every day the same and always salt-free and that was unhealthy; people cannot live without salt.” In Autumn 1947, Ferdinand Maneth was sent from Kutiny to the camp in Hodolany near Opava and after that he was released and got home.

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Ferdinand Maneth

Ferdinand Maneth was born in 1923, in Úsov u Mohelnice in a family of mixed ethnicity. His father, Ferdinand senior, was German, and his mother, Eleonora, was Czech. At the age of 19, he was drafted into the Wehrmacht. Originally, he was supposed to become a radio operator in the Afrikakorps which was headed to the African continent. Then he was transferred to a school for interpreters in the town of Meissen. Eventually, however, he served as a radio operator on the eastern frontline. He suffered severe injuries in the operation "Bagration" while fighting on the Daugava, (Western Dvina), River in the north of Belarus. He ended up in Soviet captivity and had to be treated for a very long time in a hospital in the Kirov area, which is located several hundred kilometers east of Moscow. His knowledge of the Russian language saved his life on many occasions throughout the war. His leg was nearly amputated and today it is 12 centimeters shorter than the other one. Shortly after the war, he was taken to Brno together with a group of Austrian prisoners of war. Until the fall of 1947, he was held in a number of internment camps in the region of Morava before he was finally released and could go home. These camps were located in Brno, Kuřim, Kutina u Újezdu u Tišnova, Olomouc-Hodolany. In 1957, he married Gerlinda Kembitzk, a German, and moved to Rohle in the region of Šumpersko, where he lives today.

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Kutiny, wilderness

Available in: English | Česky

The Lubný and Níhová Tunnels were adapted to fit an underground factory producing military aviation machinery in 1944 by a company codenamed Diana G.m.b.H. The company employed “forced labourers” of various nationalities. Conversely, after the war, German prisoners of war were tasked with clearing the place out. Located in the wilderness of Kutiny, the premises of the former factory were used to create a collection camp for prisoners who were either young, elderly, or disabled. The camp allegedly held over 3,000 people. 118 of them are buried in the military cemetery by the Libochůvka River.

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Salt over Gold

Ferdinand Maneth