Praha - Strašnice, crematory
Vinohradská 2254/218, 100 00 Prague-Prague 10, Czech Republic
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Secret Lists of the Dead

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In 1932 father of František Suchý won the open competition for the position of the director of crematorium in Prague-Strašnice and he and his family moved there. František Suchý remembers only the worst things from the war: “The casualties from the execution places Kobylisy and Pankrác were burnt there. My father often woke me up in the middle of the night and I had to write the names of casualties who had been executed only a few hours ago.” His father had to register the names of the casualties and hand these lists over to the occupants. But secretly he mad copies. He was supposed to fill the compost up with the ash, but he used to save the real remains. During the war about 2200 people were buried in the so-called third night shift. “When I came to the cremator in the morning, sometimes there was so much blood that I could wade through it. Those were people, whose heads had been cut off and they were still bleeding.” According to Mr Suchý the heads of the Heydrich´s assassins were burnt there too. After February 1948 they brought the dead to the crematorium again. This time those were the casualties of the communist regime. The urns were stored anonymously to the common grave; the relatives could not come to the ceremonials or take over the urns. František Suchý held the urn of Milada Horáková in his own hands. Again his father hid the ash of some people and risked his and his family´s lives. When František Suchý saw how they burry more and more bodies of the casualties, he decided to get involved in the resistance movement against the Communists.

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Ing. František Suchý

Ing. František Suchý

Ing. František Suchý was born in Prague on 17 April 1927. His father became the director of the crematorium in Prague, Strašnice. František witnessed burning corpses of prisoners who were executed by the Nazis and then by communists. After February 1948 he got involved in anti-communist activities and in 1952 he was arrested as he had helped an agent called Koudelka. He was sentenced to 25 years; also his parents should have gone to prison for 4 and 4.5 years. He was in many prisons: Pankrác, Mírov, Opava, Bory, Leopoldov. In prison he also worked as a designer (e.g. for the Tatra company). He was released in 1964 and then he worked as a fitter and later designer for Kovodílo.

Praha - Strašnice, crematory

Available in: English | Česky

The Strašnice crematory was designed by the architect Alois Mezera, the opening ceremony on 23 January 1932 was presided over by the Mayor of Prague, JUDr. Karel Baxa. The crematory did not begin actual operation until 4 April 1932. Until 1954, when the Motol crematory was opened, Strašnice Crematory was the only such building in Prague. During the Nazi occupation, the bodies of resistance members executed at Pankrác or Kobyliská střelnice were secretly cremated here.

Praha - Strašnice, crematory

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Secret Lists of the Dead

Secret Lists of the Dead

Ing. František Suchý
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