Miroslava Kaštovská

Miroslava Kaštovská, born Tkáčová, was born in 1931 in the secluded settlement, Znajka, between Čeladná and Horní Bečva. Only the Tkáč family lived in the seclusion amidst the forests of the Beskidy Mountains. Life there had been very hard even before the war broke out. Starting in 1944, guerrillas from the Jan Žižka Brigade began appearing in the neighborhood seeking a place to hide. The partisans would often visit the home of Miroslava and her family. Their house also became the hiding place for the equipment of an airborne landing with the code-name "Wolfram". The family thus lived in great danger because even these secluded places in the mountains were occasionally visited by the Gestapo. Nevertheless, the family helped the paratroopers and their home, for a few weeks, became the hiding place for the severely injured guerrilla-group leader and chief of staff of the Žižka Brigade Dajan Bajanovič Murzin. It was just at the time of Tetřev operation, when 13,000 German troops sealed off the mountain area with the order to break the guerrilla resistance in the area. Murzin could eventually be saved but it cost the life of Miroslava's father, who was arrested by the Gestapo after he had been betrayed by the informer, Emil Muroň. Her father later died in prison and her mother was briefly imprisoned as well. After the war, the family moved away and some time later, the Znajka secluded place ceased to exist. Today Miroslava Kaštovská lives in Opava.

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