Escape from One’s Own Destiny

Half way between the towns of Houstoň and Hřebčí, there used to be a small quarry. This quarry served as a hiding place for František Pitín who attempted to escape the Nazis. It all began in the early morning of June 10, 1942, when Mr. Pitín was coming home from his night shift in Poldi factory in Kladno. On his way home, he found out that his home village Lidice had been occupied by the Nazis and he therefore decided not to return home. At first, he was hiding for two days with his relatives in Houstoň. Then he left and decided to hide in the quarry by the village. Finally he took refuge in the woods by Unhošť. Unfortunately for Mr. Pitín, he got turned in by a forester Josef Černý, whom he asked if he would exchange his food ration stamps. “He was then taken to Kladno and to Prague, and executed with his fellow workers from the night shift and with the Horák and Stříbrný families at the shooting range in Kobylisy,” recalls his son Jiří Pitín. After the war, Černý was sentenced to life for his denunciation.