František Wiendl
František Wiendl was born on December 31, 1923, in Klatovy. His father, František Wiendl senior, was a carpenter. He was imprisoned by the Russians and brought to Russia during the First World War and he witnessed the October revolution of 1917 there. This first-hand experience deeply influenced the stance of the family towards Communism. During WWII, father and son got involved in the resistance activities against the Nazi occupants. František's father was a member of the resistance organization ÚVOD. Unlike his friends, he was lucky and escaped being revealed and arrested by the Germans. After the Germans burned down the village of Lidice, he founded his own resistance organization and named it Lidice to honor the memory of the village. His son was also involved in the organization. The bulk of the activities of the organization consisted of financial contributions to the families of those who had been arrested by the Nazis. They also distributed leaflets and gathered weapons and material that they could use in the event of an uprising. The group later joined the larger organization Niva that received its instructions from the oversea Council of Three - a channel that maintained contact with the powers abroad. The uprising broke out by the very end of the war in May 1945. The resistance fighters disarmed the German soldiers in the city even before the advent of the American army. Mr. Wiendl became a mason and studied the technical college of construction during the Protectorate. After the war (1945-1947) he did his basic military service and attended a school for reserve officers. The rise of the Communists to power and the death of Jan Masaryk led the Wiendl family and their friends from the war to join the so-called "third resistance" against the Communists. At first, they focused mainly on writing anti-Communist slogans and distributing leaflets. Beginning in April 1949, they were also guiding fugitives across the border and kept in touch with agent-walker Alois Suttý. The group was eventually broken up; at first, František Wiendl and a fellow associate were betrayed and arrested in November 1949. Then, the rest of the group, including František Wiendl senior and agent Suttý, was arrested in the spring of 1950. The trial was held in December 1950. Agent Suttý was sentenced to death and executed, Mr. Wiendl senior was sentenced to 25 years in prison and Mr. Wiendl junior to 18 years in prison for treason. František Wiendl junior was imprisoned in the Jáchymov region, (Eliáš, Nikolaj, "L" in Vykmanov, Rovnost, camp "C") and since 1956 in the Pankrác prison, where he worked in the project design department, drawing proposals for state construction projects. He continued in this profession even after he was released in 1960 and he stuck with it until his retirement. Today, he is active in the Sokol movement and in the Confederation of Political Prisoners. He is the president of the CPP in Klatovy.
