"The communists have taken the Czech nation's soul away. The soul! Do you know what that is? Nobody can really say thank you. Not even to say hello. Or say please. Or give help. Nothing! That's communism. Man is nothing. That's it. No! Not me. Never in my life."
"A classmate came to our house and said, 'Ali, do you have a radio?' I said, 'Why?' She said, 'Oh, never mind.' We went to school, she kept quiet. Then the girls got together and talked about something. I approached them and asked what they had heard and why this friend asked if we had a radio. "Is that a relative? This general?' I said, 'What happened?' They took out a newspaper and said, 'Look.' So I read, 'Traitor general sentenced to death by rope.' I fell down. I fell at school. That was my first year at the education school, and I wasn't allowed to study in Olomouc. And my brother wasn't admitted to the grammar school."
"Do you remember the moment when the bomb hit? Where were you and what were you doing at that moment?" - "In the kitchen. I was likely under the table. You have no idea of the shockwave that hits and you turn up somewhere and you don't know about it. That was totally surprising. We called each other, 'Where are you? Where are you? Milada, where are you?' We'd let each other know. We were all buried. We could hear cries coming from our neighbours'. He had boys there and they both got killed. I don't remember the neighbour's name. No one has any idea of how we were left completely destitute. We had no clothes, only what we were wearing. Dirty. They took us to a tobacco factory and gave us first aid. I wanted to help them. I was gonna help pull everybody out of the ruins. But when I stood up, I fell."
Alexandra Šmiřáková was born in Suché Lazce near Opava on 26 December 1931. Her father Matěj Píka came from nearby Štítina and was the younger brother of General Heliodor Píka who was unlawfully executed by the communists in 1949. Alexandra Šmiřáková met her uncle Heliodor several times during the First Republic and after the war. Her father worked in the fiscal administration and was the head of the local Sokol union. When Germany occupied Opava in the autumn of 1938, the family had to leave for the inland. Thanks to the father‘s contacts, they went to the Hodonín area where the father got a job. They moved several times during the occupation. In November 1944 the family survived the bombing of Hodonín, and in April 1945 Alexandra Šmiřáková witnessed the crossing of the front in Čejkovice. The family returned to Silesia immediately after the war. In June 1949, they learned of the execution of Heliodor Píka. The witness was not allowed to study at the Faculty of Education, and the persecution hit the entire family. At the time of filming in 2024, Alexandra Šmiřáková lived in Krnov.
Family photo from 1963. Top, left to right: brothers Bohumír, Karel and Jan. Bottom, left to right: sisters Alexandra, Marie, father Matěj, mother Anna and sister Milada
Family photo from 1963. Top, left to right: brothers Bohumír, Karel and Jan. Bottom, left to right: sisters Alexandra, Marie, father Matěj, mother Anna and sister Milada
Candidates of the People's Party in the municipal elections in Krnov in 1994. Brother Jan Píka is in the middle row, second from right; Alexandra Šmiřáková is in the bottom row, fourth from right.
Candidates of the People's Party in the municipal elections in Krnov in 1994. Brother Jan Píka is in the middle row, second from right; Alexandra Šmiřáková is in the bottom row, fourth from right.
Heliodor Píka (right) in conversation with then General Staff Captain Vilém Sacher, Head of Staff of the 2nd Czechoslovak Independent Paratroop Brigade in the USSR. The photo dates back to the first half of 1944, probably 26 April 1944 when the brigade received its battle standard. Zdenko Maršálek, Institute for Contemporary History of the CAS
Heliodor Píka (right) in conversation with then General Staff Captain Vilém Sacher, Head of Staff of the 2nd Czechoslovak Independent Paratroop Brigade in the USSR. The photo dates back to the first half of 1944, probably 26 April 1944 when the brigade received its battle standard. Zdenko Maršálek, Institute for Contemporary History of the CAS
Soviet General Dmitry Danilovich Lelyushenko is centre. The latest possible date of the photograph is February 1948 when Lelyushenko visited Prague for the founding congress of the Czechoslovak-Soviet Friendship Union. Lelyushenko commanded until August 1947 the Soviet 4th Guards Mechanized Army located first in Hungary and in East Germany from May 1946, and from August 1947 he was the commander of the tank forces of the Group of Soviet Occupation Troops in Germany. Píka is a division general in the photo, so it must have been taken sometime between October 1945 and February 1948. In my opinion, the most likely date is May 1946 when Lelyushenko's army was moving from Hungary to East Germany (Soviet occupation zone) via Czechoslovakia. The man on the left is wearing a diplomatic service uniform, which would correspond to May 1946 and the working meeting of the commander of the moving Soviet troops with the Vice-Chief of the Czechoslovak Main Staff Heliodor Pika on the right. The man in the diplomatic service uniform may be a Soviet embassy guard, wearing a formal suit unlike Lelyushenko. Lelyushenko is obviously wearing a service uniform with only ribbons and no foreign decorations; he would probably not wear this on an official visit. Author of the caption: Jiří Fidler, Institute of History of the Czech Armed Forces
Soviet General Dmitry Danilovich Lelyushenko is centre. The latest possible date of the photograph is February 1948 when Lelyushenko visited Prague for the founding congress of the Czechoslovak-Soviet Friendship Union. Lelyushenko commanded until August 1947 the Soviet 4th Guards Mechanized Army located first in Hungary and in East Germany from May 1946, and from August 1947 he was the commander of the tank forces of the Group of Soviet Occupation Troops in Germany. Píka is a division general in the photo, so it must have been taken sometime between October 1945 and February 1948. In my opinion, the most likely date is May 1946 when Lelyushenko's army was moving from Hungary to East Germany (Soviet occupation zone) via Czechoslovakia. The man on the left is wearing a diplomatic service uniform, which would correspond to May 1946 and the working meeting of the commander of the moving Soviet troops with the Vice-Chief of the Czechoslovak Main Staff Heliodor Pika on the right. The man in the diplomatic service uniform may be a Soviet embassy guard, wearing a formal suit unlike Lelyushenko. Lelyushenko is obviously wearing a service uniform with only ribbons and no foreign decorations; he would probably not wear this on an official visit. Author of the caption: Jiří Fidler, Institute of History of the Czech Armed Forces
An official event between June and August 1945, as Heliodor Píka's rank is that of a Brigadier General. I cannot identify other generals in the background. Jiří Fidler, Institute of History, Armed Forces of the Czech Republic
An official event between June and August 1945, as Heliodor Píka's rank is that of a Brigadier General. I cannot identify other generals in the background. Jiří Fidler, Institute of History, Armed Forces of the Czech Republic
Heliodor Píka (right) is already in the division general rank, dating the photo back to early October 1945. Another possible clarification is the Yugoslav Order of the Partisan Star on the right side of his chest. Broz-Tito decorated Minister Svoboda and a group of Czechoslovak generals personally during his visit to Prague in April 1946. However, Píka may have received the decoration earlier. This dates the photograph to the period from October 1945 to April 1946. In addition to Píka, the photograph shows an as-yet unknown Romanian division general, a likely unidentifiable Soviet colonel, and the shoulder of a Romanian brigadier general. Judging by the plates, cutlery and food scraps (likely roast pork with dumplings and cabbage) I guess the lunch took place in our country. The Romanian division general is wearing the Soviet Suvorov Order (probably 2nd class) and the 1939 Czechoslovak War Cross. This makes him most certainly the commander of the Romanian division or corps that was deployed to liberate Czechoslovakia in 1945. Only such top commanders received Soviet orders of this level. Jiří Fidler, Institute of History, Armed Forces of the Czech Republic
Heliodor Píka (right) is already in the division general rank, dating the photo back to early October 1945. Another possible clarification is the Yugoslav Order of the Partisan Star on the right side of his chest. Broz-Tito decorated Minister Svoboda and a group of Czechoslovak generals personally during his visit to Prague in April 1946. However, Píka may have received the decoration earlier. This dates the photograph to the period from October 1945 to April 1946. In addition to Píka, the photograph shows an as-yet unknown Romanian division general, a likely unidentifiable Soviet colonel, and the shoulder of a Romanian brigadier general. Judging by the plates, cutlery and food scraps (likely roast pork with dumplings and cabbage) I guess the lunch took place in our country. The Romanian division general is wearing the Soviet Suvorov Order (probably 2nd class) and the 1939 Czechoslovak War Cross. This makes him most certainly the commander of the Romanian division or corps that was deployed to liberate Czechoslovakia in 1945. Only such top commanders received Soviet orders of this level. Jiří Fidler, Institute of History, Armed Forces of the Czech Republic
Left to right: secretary of the Supreme Soviet Alexander Gorkin, Ludvík Svoboda, Mikhail I. Kalinin, Heliodor Pika. Pika and Svoboda are still in the colonel rank. The photo was taken in April 1943 when Svoboda was awarded the Lenin Order in Moscow for combat action at Sokolovo. Zdenko Maršálek, Institute for Contemporary History of the CAS
Left to right: secretary of the Supreme Soviet Alexander Gorkin, Ludvík Svoboda, Mikhail I. Kalinin, Heliodor Pika. Pika and Svoboda are still in the colonel rank. The photo was taken in April 1943 when Svoboda was awarded the Lenin Order in Moscow for combat action at Sokolovo. Zdenko Maršálek, Institute for Contemporary History of the CAS
