Poděbrady, Na Chmelnici Street
The Mašín family’s place of residence · Na Chmelnici, 290 01 Poděbrady, Czech Republic
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I supplied the Mašíns with ammunition before their escape

Available in: English | Česky

When the Mašín brothers decided to leave Czechoslovakia in October 1953, they visited Vladimír Hradec who had been helping them acquire weapons on a long term basis: “Radek, (Ctirad Mašín: editor’s note), came to see me on Saturday the third, and stated that they would run away that night. Milan Paumer came along as well. At my place, they prepared their weapons and cleaned them. Milan had a nine millimeter caliber, I lent him a hammer so that he could hammer down the numbers on the gun to destroy the evidence of the weapon’s origin. I gave them ammunition, they needed nine millimetre bullets and ammunition for the 7.65 mm calibre range gun. They had two 9 mm guns and a 7.65 mm one. They asked for my opinion on whether they should take with them some kind of a hand grenade or a machine-gun. In the end they decided against these options, they expected to be in Berlin in the course of three to four days. But it turned out to be much more complicated, than anyone had anticipated at first.” The Mašíns did not invite Hradec to join them, he explains this by claiming that he would end up like Janata and Švéda if he had decided to go: “Pepík, Radek, and Milan Paumer would run twenty kilometers a day. They were preparing themselves, they were in a good physical condition. Švéda and Janata didn’t do that, I was no sportsman either. I wouldn’t be able to keep up, just like the two weren’t able to.”

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Vladimír Hradec

Vladimír Hradec

Vladimír Hradec was born on May 30th, 1931, in Poděbrady. In the year 1942, he met the Mašín brothers who, at the time, had moved into town. After graduating from secondary school Vladimír started to study chemistry and, at the same time, helped the Mašíns in their activities. After the Mašíns had escaped, the entire Hradec family was arrested and sentenced to many years in prison; Vladimír Hradec received a 22-year sentence. He went through the prisons and camps in Leopoldov, Jáchymov and Bory. Following his release in 1964, he started to work in Spolana Neratovice, (a chemical plant).

Poděbrady, Na Chmelnici Street

Available in: English | Česky

Zdena Mašínová had moved to Poděbrady with her sons, Ctirad and Josef, in the year 1942, after her husband had passed away. They lived in a house on Na Chmelnici Street. This is where they were hiding an escaped Russian prisoner of war, Stepan Sannikov, during the war. The family had lived there until the Autumn of 1953 when the two sons shot their way across the border.

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