“We shared the same cell, he was sleeping on one side, I on the other. We talked about all kinds of things, including the church. Gustav knew that I was a believer, I had told him that I studied theology. One day he said ´Jarda, you know, I respect the believers, but I pity them.´ I asked him: ´But why, Gusta?´ - ´Because they are deceived by priests.´ I said: ´What do you mean deceived?´ ´They are deceived by priests. If I could, I would have all priests exterminated.´ I was shocked, and I asked him: ´But tell me why, Gusta?´ - ´They are a detergent to progress. Where could the world be today, were it not for the priests!´”
“They brought me a piece of bread and a mess tin with milk, the milk had a bluish colour. I thought that it was probably watered down. It was, but it was still milk, and so I drank it all. They were bringing this to me for several days every evening after the interrogation. One day I returned from the interrogation and I suddenly realized that during the interrogation I was saying and answering exactly the same words that the investigator said. It was not true. Then it dawned on me that they might be adding some chemical substance into the milk. From then on I would always pour it out.”
“At the turn of 1943 and 1944 I became a member of the resistance group Černý lev (Black Lion). Only after the war I learnt that there were also many other scouts from our troop involved in it. My task was to watch the movements of the German army and report them. The leader of our troop, Anderle, nicknamed Peček, was passing information to Father Kohout, a priest from Týnec, who was then sending these reports by a transmitter to England.”
“One day I met my classmate here in Klatovy. It was on the corner of the town square and Plánická Street, in front of the textile shop. We stopped at the corner and chatted. All of a sudden I see some face in the shop window. I thought: ´That’s someone I know…´ I turned around. He was a retired man – an StB collaborator. I turned to him and told him: ´Mr. XY, come closer so that you can hear what I’m saying, and report it to Smolík.´ Smolík was the StB chief in Klatovy. He turned and took to heels.”
“We agreed with bishop Korec that he wouldn’t go for lunch on Sunday, and I wouldn’t either. When they called for lunch, I would run up the stairs, and on the landing, in a place where we would see both the staircase and the corridor, he would ordain me. He then laid his hands on me, I was ordained, and I ran down and entered my cell, and in less than a minute the door slammed behind me.”
Father Jaroslav Karl was born June 18, 1929 in Pilsen, but he moved to Klatovy with his parents and sister while he was still a young boy. He studied the elementary and grammar school there. He was a boy scout and during the war and after the coup in February 1948 he was a member of the resistance organization Černý lev (Black Lion), which was led by Josef Anderle. After graduation from grammar school in 1948 he studied theology in the seminary in České Budějovice till the seminary was closed down in 1950. He was not admitted to the Faculty of Medicine, and he therefore took a course in physiotherapy and rehabilitation. In 1951-1952 he served in the Auxiliary Technical Battalions in Libavá and Šternberk near Olomouc. On September 29, 1952 he was arrested by the State Secret Police directly in the barracks and after one year of detention pending trial the military court in Prague sentenced him to 17 years of imprisonment for high treason and espionage. The reasons for his imprisonment were his activity in the scout resistance organization Černý lev and his religious activities. His sister and his brother-in-law Karel Janota were likewise imprisoned. Mr. Karl served his sentence in Leopoldov. In May 1960 he was released in amnesty, but in 1961 he was arrested again, and sentenced for sedition to two years of imprisonment plus the remaining portion of his previous sentence. This time he was interned in the prison in Valdice, where bishop Korec secretly ordained him a priest. After his release in 1965 he did various jobs, mainly as a nurse in psychiatric hospitals, especially in Prague-Bohnice where he worked the longest time. He became involved in the activities of the underground church, and he was secretly preparing seminarians for ordination. He was legally allowed to serve as a priest only after the fall of the communist regime. In 1990-2003 he served as a dean in Bechyně. At present he is retired and he is an active member of the Confederations of Political Prisoners in Klatovy.
