When I was sixteen they stuck us in a forced labor camp in Kuřim
Zdeněk Florek was born on 6 December in 1927 Ostrava-Vítkovice, where he lived with his parents until he was five years old. His father Josef was a public servant at the city hall in Ostrava, while he mother was a homemaker. In 1932, his family moved to a house in Ostrava-Zábřeh where Zdeněk spent his childhood and youth. His recollections are mainly concerned with the war years. He went to lyceum in Moravian Ostrava, but when he was sixteen, in 1943, he had to do forced labor. Among other jobs, he worked as a hand in a work camp in Kuřim, and he recalls the ill-treatment and hunger he suffered there. He also recalls the air raids and liberation in Zábřeh. After graduating from lyceum in 1947, he studied University of Banking until he allowed himself to be kicked out – he intentionally failed his exams on Marxism-Leninism.
