Leo Cieslík

* 1929

  • “My father had been unemployed for seven years before Hitler came to power.” “And after that jobs became available?” “That’s right, since 1933, when Hitler seized power, my father really did get a job then.”

  • “So in 1949 I was hired as a milling-machine operator in the Svit factory. And in the course of four years I was promoted and awarded the title of a Shock-worker – got a certificate for it, for I was simply able to work hard. And I was also evaluated as the best worker in my field, as a milling-machine operator. And in five years I was promoted to a technical position, as a quality controller. Then I was working as a team leader for about 10 years, and 27 years as a manager of the workshops. And then I retired.“

  • “And at four in the morning they deported us to the railway station, and on top of that, they confiscated any valuables these people had on them. Each of us got a half-slice of bread and they loaded us onto open wagons.” “These were cattle trucks?” “No, open, roofless wagons. And the journey from Blatná took about three days and three nights. And we meanwhile …. children died, and many adults have not survived either. I just saw that corpses were thrown out of the wagons, and this way we eventually arrived to Opava.”

  • “They dragged us into the forest and there they wanted to execute us, because we were Hitlerjugend members.” “And how it looked like, how many of you were there?“ “About ten of us fifteen-year-olds.” “And could you go into detail a bit? You said they forced you to start digging…” “Well, they gave us shovels, and we had to begin digging our own grave. But a miracle occurred, suddenly a jeep with American soldiers arrived, there were four of them. And this was our luck. I still cannot understand it today, what actually made them come to save us. People were talking about it then, and according to what I heard there was a teacher who spoke English, and she reported the incident to the Americans, told them that we had been dragged away.”

  • “We were actually Germans and we simply did not want to accept, or apply for, the Polish citizenship, so it all began anew. For one year I actually had to work for free. We worked on ruined bridges, and we did so without being paid. For free.” “And how did you live then? How did the family manage?” “The only thing I remember was that we had a little grinder. And we would grind our flour on it ourselves, and then bake it on the stove, without any oil, just plain. And I still cannot understand how we managed to survive this way.“ “How many of you were there, I mean how many children?” “There were five of us.“

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    Krnov, 23.02.2003

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    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of 20th Century
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„I act according to what is proper and just, all people should actually act this way.“

Leo Cieslík
Leo Cieslík
zdroj: Pamět národa - Archiv

Leo Cieslík (born Cieslig) was born April 14th, 1929 in Markovice , Ratiboř district, in what was then German Silesia (at present part of Poland). His father worked as a locksmith and his mother was a housewife. The family of five children was German. During the war Leo Cieslig attended the Hitlerjugend, because participation was required for German children. As the war front advanced, the family was evacuated to Dresden; however, Leo got off the train in Opava. He apprenticed at a railway station, but did not have time to pass the apprenticeship exam, because the war ended. As a German child he was arrested and transported to a refugee camp in Blatná. At Blatná he witnessed many incidents of violence being done to the captives by the Red Army soldiers; he himself, as a member of the Hitlerjugend was to be executed by the members of the National Guard with the other fifteen-year-old boys. After the intervention of American soldiers the execution was not carried out. After the war, the family was forced to accept Polish citizenshi and Leo had to work without pay. The family lived in great poverty. Therefore in 1946 the whole family decided to move to Hlučín and in search of work they eventually settled in Krnov, where Leo has been living until now. In 1949 he began working in the Svit factory as a milling-machine operator, later he was promoted to the position of a controller, then a team leader and a workshop manager. In 1989 he retired. He was also active as a volleyball player, represented his town in volleyball tournament, and later served as a referee.