A people smuggler

Less than four kilometres from Prášily in the direction of Srní, a village called Velký Bor could be found with 70 houses. After the displacement of the original inhabitants and the establishment of the Iron Curtain it was – like many other villages in the border zone – completely demolished. In this place, during his transit journeys in the summer of 1949, courier František Zahrádka followed the tracks of a former smuggler’s path. In order to reach the frontier milestone number 16, from this place he had to, together with his refugees whom he was “smuggling” from the republic, walk for ten kilometres. The night march through steep terrain was demanding not only in terms of safety and orientation, but it also required good physical preparedness. František Zahrádka gained this ability as a member of the 10th Boy Scout troop in České Budějovice.