Antonín Najser

* 1937

  • "You could already see how they were sorting out the youth. The Horní apprentices had their black uniforms, later the apprentices from Ostroj wore gray. Even among the youth, you could tell we looked down on them. We kept to ourselves, we felt a bit aloof. The regime of the time was conducive to that. There were songs about 'I'm a miner, who's more...' Or songs, that's another thing... The cultural workers in the republic and many writers were feeble and only sobered up when the Russians invaded in the '80s. They were the ones who were already composing songs (he sings): 'Let Mama... Let whoever wants to say what they want, let mummy wipe her tears, I'm learning to be a miner, he's supporting the world today with his work...' And it went further (he recites): 'Into the trench, into the digging with a pick in my hand, with a pickaxe in my hand, with a bunch of pharaohs every day, I'm fulfilling mankind's ancient dream, I'm turning the old earth into a new paradise.' That's how they were favored in public opinion, I guess."

  • "You know, there were many such tipsters and informers. Everyone was watching where I was going, where I was staying. Most of the informers were among the local people. They knew exactly what time I was leaving and when I was coming home or not coming home. I hadn't been home for a week, so they wondered where I was. They went to the geodesy and there they probably found out that I had given my notice and that I had reported to the State Forests in Janovice near Rýmařov immediately afterwards. I don't know where they found out. They found me there again a few months later, so I had to quit the forests in Rýmařov." - "But you were employed there, weren't you?" - "Yes, I was employed by the forests." - "And why did they find you...?" - "Well, because: 'We need knowledgeable agricultural workers', that was the motto of Antonín Vincker, the son-in-law of Ladislav Stypa, who was the chairman of the JZD. That's a big story. Because when my father joined the cooperative for the second time, I immediately said that I would not farm, that I did not want to be an owner. My father took this into consideration and said that my brother, his son, who lives next door, would be the owner. He is eleven years younger than me. It was arranged with the old chairman of the JZD, Duda, that he would join and I would go there too. I agreed to work there in my brother's stead for the time until he joined the JZD. Well, yes, but in the meantime the chairmen changed. A young zealot, as old as me, a son-in-law from Stypa, Antonín Vincker, came. My brother joined Vitkov as an agricultural machinery repairman, so I said I was quitting. And he said no. He said no, not that until my brother would work in the cooperative."

  • "A lot of them fell here. For example, in the last house on the right side of Olomoucká Street in Slavkov in the direction of Olomouc lived a man named Niederle. The house was hit by a bomb and the whole family was killed. The whole family. Or Sporek, just down the road from us at the turn-off to Olomouc Street and Zlatníky. There's a green space there today. There was a small house there. A Russian shot the father of the family there when he was coming out of the cellar because he was wearing a waterproof green German tarp. 'You German!' he said and shot him in front of the family, who were hidden in the cellar."

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Slavkov, 22.07.2024

    (audio)
    délka: 02:45:02
  • 2

    Slavkov, 25.07.2024

    (audio)
    délka: 02:01:30
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

We‘ll break the boundaries forever, we‘ll be closer together, radio proclaimed

Twenty-one-year-old Antonín Najser in 1958
Twenty-one-year-old Antonín Najser in 1958
zdroj: Archive of the witness

On 29 October 1937, Antonín Najser and Hedvika, née Žídková, gave birth to their third offspring in Slavkov in the Opava region - their son Antonín, who was to take over the farm from his father. He had to work hard from a young age. The first blow of fate came at the end of the Second World War in 1945, when the farm was devastated by the army and his father almost went into industry. The second blow was dealt by the communists in the 1950s with collectivisation. After a year of farming together, Antonín Najser‘s father quit the unified agricultural cooperative (JZD) and since then, like his son, has faced oppression and humiliation. Part of his property, including his fields, was confiscated. In 1959, after serving in the Ministry of the Interior in Most, Antonín Najser Jr. decided to flee farming. Convicted by the informers, he did not hide for long, however, and together with his father he had to join the JZD. After his second escape, he moved to the State Tractor Station in Opava. At the time of filming in 2024, he lived in Slavkov u Opavy.