Antonín Hurych

* 1943

  • “For me, this is a fundamental question. I didn't have to think about it. For me, it's expulsion, not withdrawal. As I got to know those people more and more, I became so close to those families. I was on the verge of tears many times. Because I realised how many children there were, so many worries, and the demanding hard work they had to endure to maintain their lives. And they maintained it, being very grateful, very pious. Today it is only with this vision... I am convinced that it was a transgression against the very people and that it cannot be justified in any way. I believe we could have found solutions, and they would have been mutually beneficial. We lived here for 700 years; we didn't get in each other's way for 700 years; 700 years means something to people who live together. And those people were close, they would get to know each other, they would marry each other, and the influence would intermix, and I think it was to everyone’s benefit. And that period of abuse of German residents, I don't mean from the cities, but from the villages, it is unacceptable to me. Those people did not deserve it because they lived a normal, ordinary life of a person who had to face the basic concern of defending their life, protecting it, developing it and somehow enriching it.”

  • "And after 1968, a new stream of church songs began to appear here. It mainly caught on among young people, and I started bringing together such a group of people from many villages around Makov, which succeeded, and we were able to function until 1975. Then it had to stop because the housekeeper, Tonička Nádvorníková, mentioned that the parish priest was fined with a six-month suspension of part of his salary just because he did not arrange for the termination of the activities of young people in the Morašice church and the surrounding area. We used to go to Ronov-in all directions-there were about 40 of us." - "In what years was it?" - "It was from 1970 to 1975. It bothered the regime, so they pushed the priest to discontinue it. Of course, he didn't discontinue it, but we did because he was badly financially damaged."

  • "And the director, then Vojtěch, came there, I don't know if I should have named him, and he said two sentences, 'If someone is a religious student, he has no business at this institute!' My father, I value that dearly, courageously expressed himself when he said, 'So, Mr Director, you know what? Don't expect him at school tomorrow. I'm retracting him from the studies.' And imagine what happened next. The parents' meeting ended, and dad was leaving. He was already at the door, there was such a wide door at the Litomyšl gymnasium, and someone tugged on dad's sleeve. My dad turned around, and the director Vojtěch stood there and told him, 'But Mr Father, it's not that bad, send your son to school, we have to say it.' So they pushed the teachers to such interventions, but you can say that it was only to an extent to which the parents reacted; if they accepted it, or were able to oppose it."

  • Celé nahrávky
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    Polička, 21.09.2020

    (audio)
    délka: 03:01:11
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Příběhy regionu - HRK REG ED
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    Polička, 29.09.2020

    (audio)
    délka: 15:11
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Příběhy regionu - HRK REG ED
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

I consider the post-war withdrawal of Germans a great injustice

Antonín Hurych
Antonín Hurych
zdroj: witness archive

Antonín Hurych was born on July 13, 1943, in Makov as the first son of Mr and Mrs Hurych, and six more of his siblings were born later. The parents farmed on two farms, and together with the father‘s brothers, they cultivated 40 hectares of land. After much pressure on their father, they joined the agricultural cooperative in 1956. The Hurychs were strongly religious and attended church in Morašice and Makov. One of the father‘s brothers, Josef, was a parish priest in Brandýs nad Orlicí. Antonín Hurych graduated from the Litomyšl grammar school and then the University of Agriculture in Prague. After his military service, he joined a state farm in Čistá, and after another two years, he started working as an agronomist in the agricultural cooperative in Chmelík. He was involved in saving the dilapidated church and repairing chapels around Chmelík. With his research activity, he attempts to rescue the continuity of the region, from which German residents had to leave after the war. In 2020, he lived with his family in Chmelík.