Please meet... At the writing desk with Czech author Jiří Nešetřil.

Recently, the Prague weekly "Naše pravda" published an article by its freelance contributor, "Living Testimonies of Nazi Atrocities," as part of a series commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and our liberation from fascism by the Red Army. In the article, the author, known to his friends as Jura, compiled the memories of two women who lived through that difficult period. Mrs. Olga Švédíková lives in Lomnice, and Mrs. Krystyna Ksiaskiewicz lives in Poznań, Poland. This is a valuable record of historical events that must not be forgotten. This is, after all, a long-term task and creative goal for the writer, chronicler, researcher, and amateur historian, publicist, and author Jiří Neset.

Meet…

Jiří Neset (born in 1953) lives and works in Třeština, in the Haná region. Since 2003, he has been the town chronicler. He is the author of "Chronicle of the Town of Třeština, Part II, 1937-1967," "World War I, 1914-1920 (in memory of our soldiers)," and "Sights of the Town of Třeština." Jiří Neset's most important work is the book "Marches of Hunger and Death, 1944-1945," which is followed by other works.

Immense Suffering of Seven Hundred Thousand Prisoners and POWs

As is well known, under pressure from the advancing Red Army and Anglo-Americans, the Nazis decided to evacuate several concentration camps at the end of World War II. In the case of extermination camps, they began destroying gas chambers and crematoria in order to cover up their horrific activities. The unfortunate prisoners, almost without food or clothing, and subjected to constant killings, had to walk hundreds of kilometers, practically without rest, under the threat of immediate death. The Nazis used death marches as a means of eliminating prisoners and detainees, including women and children. Their columns moved through the territory of present-day Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Austria in the last months of the war, and there are still many mass graves in these areas. Among the leading researchers in the Czech Republic who are dedicated to this horrific period are three colleagues, who are also friends. Stanislav Motl, a television and radio reporter, publicist, and writer; Milena Městecká, a researcher and publicist, organizer of memorial events and commemorative marches along the routes of the death marches; and the aforementioned Jiří Neset, who took the time for our following interview.

It started about twenty years ago…

…Jura smiles and begins to reminisce:

“I was appointed as the town chronicler of our town, where I was born, in 2003. Třeština itself has an interesting and long history, which reaches its peak after 1937. This directly called for a second volume. I was fortunate that, at the time I was starting to write again, there were still people alive who had been born during the Austro-Hungarian Empire or in the 1920s, shortly after the founding of the first republic. So, I went through the entire town, house by house, and recorded the personal memories of the residents. I also focused on documents and period photographs from family archives. It was a real treasure for me. This is how my other work, "World War I - in memory of our soldiers, 1914-1920," came about. During my conversations with the witnesses, memories of the horrors of World War II also often surfaced, which kept me awake…”

Marches of Hunger and Death

“...What most struck me from the accounts of the witnesses were their memories of the marches of prisoners of war between 1944 and 1945, and their stay in our municipality. Their number reached 5,000, and they were mostly Soviet prisoners, about 800 Britons, and 300 Serbs. Until then, I knew very little about these events. When the witnesses recounted these horrors during our conversations, many of them, even after so many years, were still experiencing severe trauma. Four dozen prisoners of war died in the municipality and its immediate surroundings. I often had to ask their relatives to help me end the interviews. The question arose: where did these prisoners come from, and where were they headed? And so, I followed the trail of the death marches…”

Initially, I visited surrounding villages, examined municipal archives, and spoke with other witnesses. However, I soon realized that, as part of my research, I needed to expand my scope to include the districts of that time. This led me to Opava, Bruntál, Šternberk, Olomouc, Šumperk, and Zábřeh and Litovel, as well as other places. Eventually, I followed those horrific routes all the way to eastern Bohemia, visiting Moravská Třebová, Česká Třebová, Lanškroun, Ústí nad Orlicí, and many more. Finally, I traveled to the Polish cities of Bytom and Lambinowice, in what was then German Lower Silesia, where prisoner-of-war camps had been established from the beginning of the war. Initially, these camps held Polish, French, and British prisoners, and later, Soviet prisoners. STALAG Lamsdorf, as the name suggests, was the main camp for the entire region of Lower Silesia and the Sudetenland, and, based on requests from German companies, it supplied agreed-upon numbers of prisoners of war for forced labor. The entire camp and its surroundings are part of the Museum and Memorial to the Victims. There is a mass grave on the large cemetery containing the remains of 40,000 Soviet prisoners, 500 Britons, 1,500 Slovaks, and a memorial to the members of the Warsaw Uprising. I highly recommend visiting this memorial site, as it is on the way to Auschwitz.”

An extraordinary document of immense historical value

“...Over fifteen years of painstaking work, I have collected and documented the memories of nearly two hundred people, and I have gathered a considerable amount of written and photographic material in the archive. With the great help of my colleague, researcher, and journalist Milena Městecká, who is also involved in this topic and is the author of the extraordinary publication "Europe in Agony: The Death Marches of 1944-1945," with the subtitle "Following the Death Marches of Women, Prisoners, and Prisoners of War from Lidice," I completed my work. Thanks to the municipality of Třeština, the publication, entitled "Marches of Hunger and Death 1944-1945," was published in 2018. A second, expanded edition followed in 2022.”

To whom honor is due, honor is given

"My books sparked widespread interest, and I was invited to give lectures at various schools. I also received several awards. In 2019, I was a laureate of the international competition "Silver Archer" in the category of "Historical Heritage." I continued my research work, aware that there were still many unanswered questions in the history of our region. I decided to supplement and illuminate this turbulent and still largely unresolved history in the publication "Memories of the Sudetenland," which covers the period from 1918 to 1946. This includes the districts of Šumperk, Zábřeh, Rýmařov, Bruntál, Šternberk, and the area known as "Hřebečsko," including the districts of Moravská Třebová, Svitavy, and Lanškroun, which was described by my research colleague Josef Bohatec from Moravská Třebová. The book is currently being prepared for printing."

Could you outline the content for us?

“The book includes descriptions of events leading up to the annexation of the Sudetenland and the coexistence of Czechs and Germans, the construction of Hitler's highway, events in Moravská Chrastava, a list of concentration and prisoner-of-war camps in our region, of which there were many. How many young people today know about the concentration camp in Dětřichov near Moravská Třebová, where Slavic women and children were imprisoned and murdered? I present to the reader the tragic events at the end of the war in Javoříčko, Bratrušov, Leština, and elsewhere, and on the other hand, the mass suicides of the German population and the post-war pogrom against Germans in Vitošov. This is accompanied by many memories from direct participants and witnesses of the events, both from the Czech and German sides. The reader can once again form their own independent opinion about these events. The accounts are supported by numerous historical documents and photographs, many of which are being published for the first time.”

Currently, we are witnessing how historical truth is being distorted, not only in the media. For example, in the Czech Republic, monuments to Soviet soldiers are being destroyed, Ukraine is full of statues glorifying Bandera and his fascist gang…

"That is why I continue to attend memorial events related to my life's work, give lectures, and process the results of my research for the media and publishing houses. When describing events, I strictly adhere to historical facts and avoid any comments or interpretations of my own opinions. A historical fact must be recorded as it happened, regardless of political power or the wishes of the publisher."

Finally, what can we look forward to after the publication of "Memories of the Sudetenland"?

"I have a publication in progress called 'Cheerful Stories from the Old Empire' and 'Northern Moravia during the Thirty Years' War.' However, my current priority is 'The Chronicle of the Neset Family, 1540-1953.' I have been collecting materials about our family for years. There are about fifty of us in the republic, and one family even lives in Norway, possibly since the end of the Thirty Years' War. And the entire Neset family emigrated to the state of Oregon in the United States. I'm going through old land registers, charters, parish records, chronicles, and family archives. It's a pleasure, because I'm a chronicler. And how could I not document my own family history? It's unthinkable. The first written mention of a member of our family is in an older land register of the Rudsko estate (now Ruda nad Moravou) from 1616, where it mentions Mikuláš, the son of the late Jan Neset, the village bailiff, and his father, Wawřinec. Through this, you can discover what kind of labor obligations your ancestors had, what the measurements and weights were, how much a basket of eggs or a loaf of bread or a mug of beer cost. You can learn about their living conditions, what they died of, and many other details from that era. And how they survived the plagues or the wars that severely affected our region, especially the Thirty Years' War. And what is the meaning of our surname? It is derived from a characteristic – 'Neseyt' or 'Nesyt' means 'insatiable,' but whether it refers to food, possessions, or romantic affairs is unknown. In the Haná dialect, the surname 'Neset' or the short form 'Neset' is common."

Ivan Černý thanks you for the interview.