Pavel Hančák (PH): “And, we arrived to the town square in Boskovice. It is a larger village--well, now it is already a larger town--and we were waiting there, and they announced that the War was over. Well, they ordered us to go back. We had no place to stay, and so they sent us to Olomouc. Olomouc was not far away and they sent us to the army barracks. So, we cannoneers…there were garages and everything, they made us get into the car and we went to Olomouc. We waged the War in the barracks there, so to speak. We spent the nights there, near the Morava River, if you know where it is in Olomouc.”
Interviewer (I): “My nephew lives there.”
PH: “So that’s where I spent one year.”
I: “And that's where you started chasing the girls?”
PH: “Yes, I was chasing the girls there.”
Pavel Hančák (PH): “They arrived from Prague, and they said that they were recruiting into the police corps. They wanted to recruit policemen, just as they want now, they need two thousand policemen and nobody wants to go there. We had been in the War, and I asked what it was about? I know that there were some policemen, and that they patrolled and so on. And so, I applied immediately. You know, as a commander, they hired me straight away. We arrived to Prague, they brought us there to Dejvice, to that police administration building. We were waiting there, and they started selecting us. They measured our body height one by one. You had to be 170 meet the police standards.”
Interviewer: “No short persons.”
PH: “No shorties: 170, or they won’t hire you. At first we all undressed except the underwear and they measured our weight and height, and everything. I was short, and I my height was not enough. And so, I went there, and as I was standing, the guy announced: ‘He is 169’. And I told him: ‘To hell with that, I will stand on my tiptoes then’. And so, I did and well, I had 171.”
Pavel Hančák was born on March 17, 1925 in eastern Slovakia. His parents wished him to become a priest, but he joined the army after the outbreak of World War II. He served as a troop commander in the 5th artillery regiment, among other positions. He also took part in the Carpathian-Dukla operation. After the end of the War, Pavel spent some time in the army barracks in Olomouc, and then he joined the police and eventually remained working for the police for the rest of his professional life. Pavel Hančák was a member of the Association of Legionnaires and he lived in the Home for War Veterans. Together with his wife, they had one son. Pavel Hančák died on June 18, 2020.
