I don’t know what the word patriotism means to you, but when we were boys, we lived it
Vladimír Ráček was born May 18, 1927 in the village Křoví in the Vysočina region. His father worked as a warehouseman in Velké Meziříčí and his mother took care of their farm. Vladimír attended elementary school in Křoví and higher elementary school in Velká Bíteš. He learnt the shoemaker‘s trade in the Baťa‘s School of Work in Třebíč-Borovina. After the end of WWII in 1945, he and his friends planned to go to Brazil and work there, but they were not successful. Vladimír was drafted for the military service in 1949. While in the army, he took a stance for freedom of religion and he was then subject to a political screening and a transfer to the Auxiliary Technical Battalions (PTP) for having voiced his opinion.