Vilém Kantor

Vilém Kantor was born in 1926 in Svederník, near Žilina. His parents were Moravian and they moved to Slovakia for work. After the separation of Slovakia in 1939, they became foreigners in a state that was an ally of Germany. The family was often a subject of insults and oppression from members of the Hlinka Guard. In August 1944, the Slovak National Uprising began and when it was suppressed, the fighters fled to the woods and continued in guerrilla war. Vilém Kantor joined the partisans as a supplier and informer in the area around Papradná in the Javorníky mountain range. He got into several shooting incidents with German soldiers. After the war, he went to Malé Karlovice in Moravia and later to Stará Ves near Rýmařov. Shortly after the Communist coup d'état, he was drafted into the army. During his army service, he passed a political course in Brno. In the army, he was a tutor in political matters for his unit, as well as the official of the Communist Party. He was released for health reasons after being diagnosed with tuberculosis. He recovered and graduated from forestry school. He worked as a forester in Přebuz at the German border, where he was also heading the local municipality. He remembers when the local German inhabitants smuggled goods to Eastern Germany. Later, he worked as a forester in Karlovice and in Třemešek, where he lives today with his wife Marie.

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