Rovnost

bývalý komunistický vězeňský tábor · Rovnost 72, 363 01 Jáchymov, Česká republika

Story
Place

The minecart just flew past

Available in: English | Česky

Rovnost was the last camp, in the list of all the ones, where Jan Haluza had served his sentence. He worked in a mine there: “I had to pull the minecart, which was used to carry uranium ore, three or four kilometers up a small hill to the place of excavations. That is where the minecart was loaded which we then took down. That was called running off. We had iron pipes which we would put between the wheels to slow down the minecarts.” Oftentimes, the overloaded minecarts were set loose. “Once, someone started to yell that a minecart was set loose, so we immediately jumped away and looked for a place to hide. I was at a quite a good spot, but my friend had nowhere to hide,” he remembered. The terrifying situation, eventually, did not end in tragedy, as “the minecart flew past him and did nothing to him.”

Gallery (2)

Hodnocení

Hodnotilo 0 lidí

Abyste mohli hodnotit musíte se přihlásit!

Routes

Echoes from the Jáchymov mines

Add to user route

Comments

No comments yet.

Insert comment

Jan Haluza

Jan Haluza was born on 12th July 1914 in Šternov, today's Újezd u Brna. From his early youth, he did sports and soon became an outstanding athlete. He brought medals from Catholic Olympics in Vienna and Ljubljana and he won many titles and achieved many records. He was a member of the Baťa Athletic club in Zlín, where he met Emil Zátopek, for whom he became the first and only trainer. After the February 1948, he was offered membership by the Communist Party, which he refused. He was arrested, accused of plotting against the government and sentenced to six years in prison. Then he was accused of being a member of the group connected with Milada Horáková and he went through electricity torture in Uherské Hradiště. The interrogation in Uherské Hradiště finally did not bring any new information. Apart from several prisons, he passed through camps Vykmanov, Eliáš, Mariánská. In the Bratrství camp, he was accused of espionage and was threatened danger by execution. During the interrogation he fell ill with typhus and after 22 days of hallucinations he lost his memory. After the release in 1954, he worked in inferior positions until he could return to his law practice. After the Revolution, he was honored with many decorations including the golden medal for an honest run in the race of life.

More info

Rovnost

Available in: English | Česky

Tábor vznikl po druhé světové válce a byl určen pro válečné zajatce. Do správy Sboru vězeňské stráže Ostrov byl předán v září 1949. Političtí, kriminální i retribuční vězni pracovali na šachtě Rovnost, kam denně chodili koridorem z ostnatého drátu. Šachta dosahovala hloubky přes 660 metrů a byla tak nejhlubší na Jáchymovsku. Rovnosti velel nechvalně proslulý František Paleček, který sadisticky týral vězně, nechával je například stát dlouhé hodiny po kolena ve sněhu.