A Boy Hidden in a Concentration Camp
Miloslav Moulis, a former prisoner in Buchenwald, recalls an unusual situation that occurred in this concentration camp. “It happened that one of the prisoners managed to smuggle a three month old boy into Buchenwald. I have no idea how he managed to do that, but the baby was simply there. Had the SS-men known about the baby, they would have killed him right away. Fellow prisoners were hiding the baby in a clothes depot for several months. It was a large hall, and the baby boy stayed there until the camp got liberated by the Americans.” This story illustrates the strong defiance that prevailed in the concentration camp towards the end of the war. The defiance resulted in an open revolt. “Shortly before the actual liberation, the Germans wanted to execute 47 prisoners, mostly German anti-fascist. This included a Czech, Petr Zenkl, the former mayor of Prague. He had been imprisoned by the Germans since 1939. The rest of the prisoners, or rather a committee of prisoners that formed itself, decided that it would not hand the anti-fascist prisoners over and hid them instead. The Germans were furious and turned the concentration camp upside down, but no one gave in. All 47 prisoners, including Zenkl, lived to see the liberation,” said Miloslav Moulis.
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Miloslav Moulis
Miloslav Moulis was born April 30th, 1921 in Prague. His father was a lawyer (in World War I, he was a legionnaire in Russia, where he was captured in 1918 by the Communists and sentenced to death, but he managed to escape punishment) and worked for the central office of Czechoslovak Railways. During the occupation, his father was captured again, this time by the Nazis (for illegally working on the petition “Loyal We Remain”); he was unable to escape punishment and was executed in 1943. The family lived in Prague but did not stay very long, and, in the year 1923, moved to Pilsen, where Miloslav attended the local primary school and later grammar school (Masaryk lyceum). The family raised the kids with patriotic spirit, and young Miloslav became interested in public life, wanting to become a journalist. When students formed the Association of the National Movement of Young Workers shortly after the occupation, he became a member and was later arrested by the Gestapo for activities relating to the group (the association lasted less than a year). Some members of the association fled together to foreign resistance, and those who stayed were arrested on May 29th, 1940. Miloslav Moulis was sentenced in the People’s Court to two and a half years in prison. He was released for Christmas in 1942, however, his freedom was short-lived and he was arrested again. This time, there was no trial, and he was sent straight to the Mala pevnost at Terezin, and later Auschwitz. Fortunately, he didn’t remain there long, and he was sent to Buchenwald, where he spent the rest of the war. On April 11, 1945, the camp was liberated by Americans. After the war, Moulis returned home (his mother had already died in 1939, and he had two brothers who lived with his aunt) to Pilsen and began working for the newspaper. In the year 1946, he moved to Prague. Since then, he has been active in literature (nonfiction about World War II, especially young people in resistance movements and concentration camps). In the year 1966, he received an invitation from Ludvik Svoboda to collaborate on writing his memoirs. This project lasted until 1969, when the group (including two other historians) dissolved. Until 1993, he worked as the editor of the National Liberation in the Association of Freedom Fighters. Miloslav Moulis continues to actively publish.
