At the Bank of the River Rhine the Pile Caught Fire

In November 1954 Josef Čoček was sentenced to life imprisonment for his activities in American secret service MIC. Right after the hearing at a court he was escorted to Mírov prison. The conditions there were drastic which also confirm his memories for an event that happened soon after his arrival. “In Mírov there was a man – Franta Škobis, and they crushed his testicles during the interrogations. He went crazy and I do not know how it might have happened, but during the leaves he got matches and set there a paillasse on fire and danced and sang: ‛At the bank of the river Rhine the pile caught fire.’ The wardens ran in and put it out. And one of those bastards told me not to be jealous, splashed a bucket of cold water at me and after that I got pneumonia," Čoček recalled.