Rovnost
a former Communist prison camp · Rovnost 72, 363 01 Jáchymov, Czech Republic
  • Story
  • Place

Whipping boy

Available in: English | Česky

Ivan Kieslinger spent the end of 1949 on the infirmary of the Jáchymov forced-labor camp "Rovnost," (Equality). December the 18th was J. Stalin's birthday and Ivan Kieslinger recalls that the wardens decided to remind the inmates of this important anniversary: "They conducted an extensive search of our barracks. We had to get out on the hallways and line up. After that I was taken to the police station. I didn't know on what account. Later they told me that in my bed, they had found active material. For this, I could have gone to court again and might have been given the rope. The previous interrogations were nothing compared to the one that followed. All the wardens on duty must have beaten me for about eight or ten hours. They demonstrated, to each other, the proper way to perform a slap: 'look, your hand has to be a clenched fist and you only open it before impact. Try it!' And they would try it on me. And of course they beat me on the legs, too. My shoes were taken off and they beat me with a baton or something of the sort. By the end, I almost didn't feel it anymore. Finally they threw me into solitary. Solitary confinement was an unheated wooden shack made of planks. It was December in the Krušné hory Mountains, the planks were loose and there was a snowdrift in the room. They threw me into that shack all broken, I hardly felt anything. At times, I fainted. In this way I spent Christmas. I must have been there for many days but I'm not sure how long it was."

Hodnocení


Hodnotilo 0 lidí
Abyste mohli hodnotit musíte se přihlásit! 

Routes

Comments

No comments yet.

Ivan Kieslinger

Ivan Kieslinger

Ivan Kieslinger was born on November 28th, in 1928. Since early childhood he had been a Boy Scout; in May 1945 he participated actively in the Prague Uprising; subsequently, he was convicted to six months for distributing the anti-communist self-printed publication, (samizdat), Svobodný zítřek, (´Free Tomorrow´). For taking part in the uprising of May 17th, in 1949 he was convicted to 16 years of imprisonment. In December 1949 the warders at the Jáchymov camp ´Rovnost,´ (´Equality´) ,used Ivan Kieslinger as a victim on which to "train" proper beating of prisoners. He sustained long-term injuries, and ended up on the hospital bed for two years. He has been suffering from the consequences until now: epilepsy, combined lung and bone tuberculosis. In 1954 he was reprieved on health grounds.

Rovnost

Available in: English | Česky

The camp was established after the Second World War to keep prisoners of war there. In September 1949 it was transferred under the management of the Prison Guard Corps. Political and retributive prisoners and criminals worked at the mine Rovnost, (Equality); each day on their way to work, they had to pass a corridor surrounded by barbed wire. The mineshaft was over 660 meters deep and it was the deepest one in the region of Jáchymov. The infamous František Paleček was in charge of the mine Rovnost, who tortured the prisoners with sadistic methods, for example, by making them stand in knee-high snow for long periods of time.

Rovnost

On this place

Černá Máry, He Was a Devil

Černá Máry, He Was a Devil

Jiří Lukšíček
Fifty-six hours in minus thirty degrees Celsius

Fifty-six hours in minus thirty degrees Celsius

Štěpán Vašíček
The minecart just flew past

The minecart just flew past

Jan Haluza
Whipping boy

Whipping boy

Ivan Kieslinger
Please enter your e-mail and password
Forgotten password
Change Password