One had to have courage and strive to stay alive
Josef Nosiadek was born in 1923 in Píšť in the Hlučín region. After the Munich Agreement this region became a part of the Third Reich and the male population had to join the German army. Josef Nosiadek was at first assigned to R.A.D. and sent to Norway to dig covers for German cannons. In May 1942 he was drafted to the wehrmacht and he was assigned to an infantry regiment in Frankfurt am Main. After training in Metz he was sent to the eastern front. He spent 18 months in the Soviet Union and he got to the city of Voronezh. Many of his friends died in combat and he was seriously wounded several times. He was also affected by a dysentery infection. After his second injury he was taken to Krakow. When he recovered he was to be sent back to the USSR, but at the last moment he was selected for a school for non-commissioned officers in Lamsdorf. Completing the study he remained in the school as an instructor. Some of his students were Volkssturm soldiers. At the end of the war he took part in fighting for the town of Breslau as a commander. He was very lucky to get out of the surrounded city and he eventually lived to see the end of the war in Bad Schandau. In order to avoid captivity, he undertook a dramatic and arduous journey home. On his way he was captured by revolutionary guards in Žamberk and led to his execution, but he saved his life only thanks to his acumen. In Žamberk he also witnessed atrocities done to local German women. After his return home he was hiding for some time and then eventually reported to the commandery in Dolní Benešov. After the situation stabilized he became the head of the Social Democratic Party in Píšť and he was very outspoken in criticizing the Bolshevik regime. He was arrested for his activism in February 1948 and taken to Kroměříž for interrogation. In 1950 he was secretly transported to a military camp of forced labour (VTNP). He was illegally interned behind barbed wire in camps in Dolní Životice and Karviná for four years. After his release he continued meeting his friends from the Social Democratic Party and VTNP. In these joint meetings they were discussing the future political regime and the establishment of a so-called middle party, which they publicly promoted. This democratic stance brought him a one-year prison sentence, which he served in Heřmanice where he was working in the coal mine Generalissimo Stalin. This occurred after a large amnesty, and therefeore there were only two political prisoners among the inmates. He worked in several jobs after his release and he currently lives in Píšť.