Miroslav Procházka

Miroslav Procházka was born on November 28, 1928, in Veverská Bítýška. He spent his childhood at a local farm there. After having completed secondary school, he began working in a store. However, he soon left the store and began to study for a shop attendant at a school in Brno. By the time of the February Coup in 1948, he was in the second grade. Because he was convinced about the unacceptability of communism, he tried to escape to Austria as soon as in March 1948. However, he was arrested nearby Vienna together with two friends and deported back to Czechoslovakia, where he was fortunately saved by an amnesty of President Klement Gottwald. Even after this experience, Miroslav kept dreaming about escaping to freedom. He joined the resistance movement and helped his friend Jaroslav Salajka – an agent of the British intelligence service – to hide a foreign pilot. Their collaboration continued until the arrest of several resistance fighters. Due to the threat of being revealed, Miroslav eventually left Czechoslovakia. After six months of training, however, he returned back home as an agent. Together with a colleague, Jaroslav Sláma, they collected information on the activities of the resistance fighters and proponents of the communist regime. When they returned from their mission back to Austria after seven months, Miroslav decided that he’d no longer take risks and emigrated to Brazil. However, he had a hard time living there, as he was penniless and struggling in a country with a different culture. In 1960, he managed to obtain a Canadian visa. In Canada, Miroslav lived until 1999, when after the death of his wife he finally decided to return home. He presently lives with his second wife in Želešice nearby Brno.

• More info