Příběhy z válečné a poválečné Šumavy 3 – Fořt Karel (2025)

In nine stories, the author presents testimonies about exceptional people connected with the events of the wartime and post-war years in Šumava.

The first story describes the lives of four pilots, among whom Matěj Pavlovič hailed from Šumava, from Vlkonic, and perished as a hero in the early days of World War II in a foreign land. A similar hero was Jaroslav Vyhnis, a graduate of the pilot school from the Klatovy airport. He returned to his Šumava with his English wife and firstborn son Jaroslav. The following narrative deals with Jan Písečný, who remained in Šumava despite being persecuted and sentenced after the war in his own country. Next in line is Josef Lupoměský, who escaped during deployment in Italy towards the end of the war and helped local partisans in their fight against the German army. He later joined the Czechoslovak Independent Brigade in England. He too stayed in Šumava after the war. The tragic story of the Pavlovič family from Vlkonic is also noteworthy, from where the brothers of RAF pilot Matěj Pavlovič were taken in 1942 to an internment camp in Svatobořice, Moravia, even though their brother had already died by that time. This was a covert operation "E" carried out under the strict supervision of the Klatovy Gestapo in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. No less interesting is...