In an Overcrowded Cell

In the spring of 1944, Josef Hroch was arrested for helping partisans and taken to the Gestapo prison in Šumperk, the so called sweatshop. He was held with his hands tied up together behind his back with self-tightening handcuffs for almost all of his imprisonment, with every movement causing the metal to dig into his wrists: “It lasted almost two months and I was tied up more or less the entire time.” At that time, the illegal North-Moravian organization called Národní sdružení československých vlastenců, (National Association of Czechoslovak Patriots – transl. note). was revealed and the prison was therefore overcrowded. He recalls: “The cell where they put me was meant for one, but it was actually full of people. We could hardly move. They let me lie on the only plank bed that was there. I could lie only on the side though, so I would always turn from one side to the other after a while,” Josef Hroch recalls. His hands were all bloody and festering from the handcuffs and he was waiting to be interrogated. The Gestapo used the most brutal interrogation techniques and the prisoners returned from it in terrible state: “Once, they brought in an unconscious guy; they threw him on the floor, locked the door and left. His behind was so wrecked that you could not tell his pants from his skin. It was all one bloody mess. In one part, you could see a bare white bone.” After this terrible sight, it was Josef Hroch’s turn to be interrogated. He stated: “Finally, it was my turn. But it was terrible to see an unconscious man totally beaten up and to know that you are the next one to go. Well, I certainly had hard times sleeping. It was really nerve-racking.”