Christmas at the Mírov prison

Available in: English | Česky

Jan Janků was arrested in May, 1949 in Hanušovice and convicted in the trial of the anti-communist resistance group “Světlana.” After having spent a year in custody in Uherské Hradiště, he was transferred to the Mírov prison. At Mírov, he became friends with many priests held at the local priest department. As a deeply religious man, he’s touched when he remembers today his first Christmas, (out of nine!), at prison: “For dinner, we literally got half an egg and half a roll. The custos served the Holy Mass with one raisin and one little piece of bread that he gave to each one of us. So this was our first Christmas at Mírov. I remember it because we were with each other there. We were one. That was the best thing about that Christmas. We didn't care about the roll, or the egg, the important thing was that we could be ourselves.”

Gallery (2)

Hodnocení

Hodnotilo 0 lidí

Abyste mohli hodnotit musíte se přihlásit!

Routes

Not a part of any route.

Add to user route

Comments

No comments yet.

Insert comment

Jan Janků

Jan Janků was born in 1921, in Hanušovice, located in the district of Šumperk. Around 1936, he joined the Scout movement, of which he still is an active member. After the annexation of the Sudetenland by Germany in 1939, the family was forcibly moved to Vrbatky, nearby Přerov. There Jan Janků graduated from a business academy and later got a job in a candy factory. In early 1941, he was assigned to forced labor in Wroclaw and, in 1943, he fled back to the Protectorate. In 1944, he went to France, where he worked as a driver of the UNRRA. After returning to Czechoslovakia, he became actively involved in the Scout movement and became a scout leader. In May 1949, he was arrested in connection to the activities of the resistance group Světlana. He spent over a year in pre-trial detention in Uherské Hradište, where he was brutally interrogated by Alois Grebeníček, among others. In the trumped-up process, he was originally sentenced to life imprisonment but afterwards his sentence was changed to 20 years, most of which he served in the prison of Mírov where he after some time became a pharmacist. Mr. Janek has always been a deeply religious man and even during his term in the Mírov prison he participated in the spiritual life of the prisoners. In 1958, he was released and thereafter he worked as a railway man. Since 1989, he’s been actively engaged in the commemoration of the fate of the political prisoners of the 1950s. He’s been participating in lectures and discussions and he owns an extensive archive.

More info

Mírov, prison

Available in: English | Česky

Mírov is a town located in the southern part of the Šumperk region. It is dominated by a medieval castle dating to the half of the 12th century. This fortified building became a part of a defense system constructed to protect the property of the Bishop of Olomouc. Since the end of the 14th century, the castle was used as a prison for people who disobeyed the Bishop. Under the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, various resistance group members were interned here. During the communist times, Mírov was considered one of the cruelest prisons for political prisoners. The prisoners were denied contact with their families, as well as medical care and medications, and they were cruelly tortured --all these factors contributed to high death rate among the prisoners. At present, the building houses a top security prison Mírov, which also includes a section for prisoners with life sentences.