Neverending Desire for Freedom - Escapes from Prison

The conditions in prisons and working camps were inhumane - lack of food, hard work, unhealthy conditions, and nonstop hassling.  That's why some prisoners decided to do something about it and they planned an escape.  The escapes were done in various ways.  Sometimes it was individuals and sometimes it was organized in groups.  Some escapes were done without much thought and depended on the opportunity at hand.  Others were planned with great detail for a couple of months, for example the very popular dig for freedom in a camp called Nikolaj.  As for the unsuccessful ones those were lost because the very participants of the escape were not careful and they revealed their plans to too many people.  The prisoners always appreciated the subordination of the successful groups to escape and also when there were many people involved in the plan.  Then they didn't mind the punishment that logically followed.  Jožka Hošek wrote in his book, "All men stopped being tired and no one was really mad at the group that escaped.  On the contrary, the whole camp was kind of empowered with happiness that the escape was successful." There were many escapes that were constructed and provoked by the headquarters and prisons of camps.  In fact the biggest escape in the history of the prison camps is the one when twenty prisoners escaped from the mine "Kamenná" on November 29, 1952.  At this escape of prisoners there were two mine guards and there was also one master involved.  The prisoners stole explosives and they used this to make a tunnel from the mines, but soon after escape they were caught.  In 1953 they were tried again and their new sentences were around three years for prisoners and around eighteen months for the civilian employees.  At that time these sentences were really low. 

The most tragic consequence was during the attempted escape of twelve prisoners from mine number fourteen near Slavkov.  These were prisoners from camp twelve and they escaped on October 15, 1951.  Only four prisoners survived alive, Karel Kukal, was able to give us a testimony in his book called, Ten Crosses.  Two of these prisoners were sentenced to death and the third one lost his memory after the inhumane beatings and Karel Kukal himself was sentenced to another twenty-five years[1].  The dead bodies of the participants were taken back to the camp and this left many bad memories for all prisoners who were eyewitnesses.  The bodies of their friends were thrown into the middle of the courtyard and those who were caught alive had to stand next to them and the whole camp had to march along it when no one was allowed to pay their respects.  If someone did it, they were put into solitary confinement for a couple of days.  Jožka Jelínek describes this experience, "From that moment we had hardly any sense of forgiveness. Even for priest, who had "love thy enemy" in their job description, this commandment became a life-long problem." 

The escape has another dimension though that is important to mention here. I remember one interview with Alois Macek who was arrested as a nineteen-year-old and sentenced to sit for 12 years. In camp Mariánská his friends decided to escape and since they knew Mr. Macek has a similar attitude they told him about their plans. Alois Macek refused to participate though because they were planning on killing one of the guards on their way. The escape was ruined and all of them were caught. Then followed cruel interrogations and a search for other prisoners who were aware of the plan and did not say a word. After sometime it was revealed that Mr. Alois Macek knew about it. Later, a huge "Monster Process" was organized and many people working in the camp as guards watched it. Four death penalties were sentenced and Alois Macek got off with only "20 years" of imprisonment. When telling me this sad story where four young lives were lost, Mr. Macek also told me, "Since then I have always had on my mind, "If I had reported the planned escape the whole Confederation of political prisoners would never have talked to me, I would be the worst bastard, in camp others would be kicking me and my life would not be worth it, but four people would be alive." It was the highest principle I simply couldn't break." As Mr. Macek says it was the "highest principle" he could not break. This was a principle set deep in the prisoner's code of ethics, as well as the rule that nobody would snitch. On the other hand this example shows us, in what kind of marginal situations prisoners were often put in and how their decision can lay heavily and haunt them up until today. 

Many other successful and unsuccessful escapes were attempted. All of them have one thing in common though - the desire for freedom. Freedom was withheld by the communist regime for some years, although these people fought for democracy, human rights, and freedom of speech.

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