Why should I wreck my nerves when I can wreck my hands instead
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Zdeněk Hnízdo was born on 8 January 1931 in Záhuby in Jičín District. His parents and grandparents were hit by the economic crisis, and so he grew up in poverty. During the war and with the support of Czech teachers at his school, he and his classmates published a children‘s magazine critical of the Nazi regime. He and his brother hid weapons and ammunition they had stolen from the Nazis in a barn. In 1946 he trained as a typesetter and found employment in Prague at Rudé právo (Red Law), the Communist daily newspaper. From the 1950s onward he served with the Inner Guard of the Ministry of the Interior, in the section tasked with protecting the uranium mines. He worked his way up to the post of deputy commander in Příbram. In 1968 he refused to accommodate the Soviet army in his garrison, thus showing his opposition to the invasion of Warsaw Pact forces. He was dismissed from the army and worked as a miner in the uranium mines until his retirement.
