Zdeněk Štich was one of the eleven political prisoners who attempted to escape from Shaft 14 of Camp XII near Horní Slavkov in the night of 14 and 15 October 1951. He does not remember being caught: the StB’s cruel practices have literally silenced him. “It probably happened in Klatovy during an interrogation by the StB (at least judging from the story of Karel Kukal, another refugee). They say I was taken to hospital from there. I don’t know where; the others knew nothing about me from then on. Reportedly I was at the psychiatry ward in Bohnice, one prisoner said. When I started moving my limbs again, I was reportedly taken back to Bory. My parents would send letters to the Ministry, asking about me, stating that I haven’t written in a long time, and asking what the matter was with me. Then they got a reply to the effect that I was seriously ill in hospital in Bory, unable to write a letter myself. Then my parents got a permit to visit me, and I was brought there on a stretcher. My mother said they were terribly shocked. I didn’t speak, I didn’t recognize them, I didn’t react to anything – I just lay there with my eyes wide open. They just looked at me. Then the warden said, ‘Your visit is over’ and they had to leave. Aside from Mr. Štich and Karel Kukal, the other members of the escape group were shot or sentenced to death.