I built a bunker for Hitler

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At the beginning of WWII Bedřich Zavadil worked in the aircraft factory Letov. He was born in 1922 and thus was selected – as all young Czechs born this year – to go for forced labour to Germany. He was saved twice from going by his manager who requested him on his workplace. For the third time, however, Bedřich Zavadil was given an ultimatum. “The State Police threatened that if I failed to arrive for the medical check and conscription, I will have to pay a fine of CZK 100,000 and will be taken by the police to the Labour Office. I arrived and the doctor made a check, I even did not take off my coat. In short, my papers were ready and I went.“

His destination was Margival, France, around 100km south of Paris. Hitler had one of many command posts built here, the so-called Führerhauptquartier, hidden in a concrete bunker. Bedřich Zavadil worked on the construction. “We didn’t care what we were building. Only later did we find that this was to be Hitler’s chief quarters. It was a large valley, we commuted from Soissons about 14km by train, every day. We worked twelve-hour shifts, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Night shifts were also for 7 hours. There were no Saturdays and Sundays off.”

The labourers got twenty francs, which was one German mark. The remaining money were sent by the authorities home. When the construction in Margival was finished, he was transferred near Paris, where he worked on the construction of Hitler’s villa.

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Bedřich Zavadil

Born on February 9, 1922, in Olomouci - Černovíra. Until 1942 he worked in Letňany and it was thanks to the request of his manager in the factory, the local confident, that he avoided the forced labour twice. For the third time, however, he was forced to leave for France, where he worked on the construction of Hitler’s main post and a bunker. He was also on forced labour in Belgium. It was in Belgium that he attempted to escape. He was captured and imprisoned for a short time, then managed to get to Czechoslovakian troops and to sail for Britain. In Britain he was recruited for a training and then served with the R.A.F. as a radio operator. He did not take part in military action. After the war he returned to Czechoslovakia, to his family home in Olomouc-Černovíra. Despite the opportunity to serve in the army he preferred a civilian job. He was not persecuted by the Communist regime.

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Margival, Wolfsschlucht 2 / Soissons

Available in: English | Česky

For the purposes of personal supervision of military operations by Adolf Hitler, the Nazi Germany was building from autumn 1939 a network of command posts called Führerhauptquartier. One of them was in Margival, a hundred kilometres from Paris. The construction started as early as 1940 and Hitler was to command the operation Seelöwe from here – i. e. the invasion to Britain. In the bunker, there was a 650m long tunnel housing the command train. The führer’s bunker was about 200 metres from the southern mouth of the tunnel and it was a rectangular building with four-metres strong walls, to which were adjacent other buildings with windows and walls about 3/4 of a metre thick.

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I built a bunker for Hitler

Bedřich Zavadil