Jáchymov, tábor Bratrství
bývalý komunistický trestně pracovní tábor · K Lanovce 1045, 362 51 Jáchymov, Česká republika
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Count Kinsky working as a miner

Available in: English | Česky

After his conviction in the summer of 1949, the political prisoner Karel Vavřínek served his term in Slovak Leopold. In early 1950, he was transferred to Jáchymov, where he worked in the “Bratrství,” (Brotherhood), mine. He was assigned to the geodesy department led by a Russian engineer by the name of Komarov. Karel Vavřínek studied the basics of geodesy from the only available textbook in the Jáchymov camp. He then worked as a markscheider, his task being to measure the volume of excavated soil. “I made friends there with Jan Kinsky, Count von Kinsky. He worked in the mine, on the vein as they say. I had to measure the volume of the earth he dug out. Here and there, I’d add some twenty centimeters to his output, which produced quite a huge number of extra cubic meters of the volume of excavated earth, which meant higher earnings for him. Then, much later, Count Kinsky spoke publicly about those times, he claimed that he had been a good miner. I actually contributed to his good reputation by my benevolent measurements,” he recalled. Karel Vavřínek served in the Bratrství mine until his release from the labor camp in 1952. He would spend the following year in the mine as well, working there voluntarily as a geodesist.

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Karel Vavřínek

Karel Vavřínek

Ing. Karel Vavřínek was born on August 20, 1929, in Plzeň, the eldest of three sons in a wealthy family. His father was an entrepreneur active in a number of areas. He owned several shops and real estate in Plzeň. Karel’s mother took care of the family. Since his youth, Karel was actively involved in scouting and in 1948, he completed his studies at a business academy in Plzeň. Disgusted by the events following the February 1948 Communist coup, he began to publish anti-communist leaflets entitled “Voices of the Silenced” with a few of his friends. In May 1949, he was arrested together with another member of their group. He was subsequently interrogated and sentenced to death in a trial that was held in Bratislava. The sentenced was later mitigated to 3.5 years in prison. He served his term in the Leopold prison and later in the labor camps of the Jáchymov mines, where he worked in Bratrství mine until his release in 1952. Thereafter, he kept working in Jáchymov for another year as a geodesist. Based on false conviction, both of his parents were imprisoned and subsequently deprived of their property. Karel graduated from the Czech Technical University and worked in the chemical industry. In 1970, he was rehabilitated. He currently lives in Prague and is involved in the publishing of the Almanac of Bohemian aristocratic families.

Jáchymov, tábor Bratrství

Available in: English | Česky

Dříve Štola saských šlechticů. Nové jméno dostala šachta v roce 1945 na počest pařížské Komuny. V letech 1950–1954 zde byl ústřední tábor jáchymovského lágru, kterým procházeli všichni nově příchozí vězni. Poté převzal funkci ústředního tábora Vykmanov. Z tábora Bratrství se nezachovalo téměř nic, štola slouží od roku 1974 jako úložiště radioaktivních odpadů.

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