Jaroslav Čermák (30 July 1929 – 10 March 2011) was a member of the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

, of

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

origin. He was arrested by the

Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

and later

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

Biography

As a boy he went to scout (1937), after the outbreak of war he was totally deployed in the Third Reich in a factory, where French prisoners of war were assigned. Here he became a link between them and members of the

movement and helped organize the escape of five French officers, with whom he and two friends also fled. He first fought against the Germans together with the French guerrillas in the Jura Mountains, then in the ranks of the regular

French army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Force ...

, received an Allied soldier's passport and temporary citizenship. Sometime around this time, he contracted malaria. After the end of the war, he returned to

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, where he worked for the Ministry of the Interior (his task was to find and convict collaborators). His sharp quarrels with communist-oriented superiors, who influenced the investigation and used it to their advantage, eventually led him to resign and leave definitively for France, where he decided to remain permanently after 1948. After serving basic military service in the French army, he fought in the ranks of the Foreign Legion in Algeria and Indochina, among others, but was later discharged from the army because the warm weather aggravated his symptoms. He received a 20% pension and employment in the secret services. In 1953, he was assigned to the border area around

Železná Ruda Železná Ruda (, german: Markt Eisenstein) is a town in Klatovy District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,600 inhabitants. It is located in the Bohemian Forest, close to the border with Bavaria and the German town Bayeris ...

, where he was to keep records of people fleeing Czechoslovakia from communism. Shortly afterwards, he requested a visit from his parents in Czechoslovakia, but he was denied that he no longer had Czechoslovak citizenship and his stay was undesirable. In 1954, StB agents abducted him from Germany to Czechoslovakia. After cruel torture, despite French protests, he was sentenced to death for alleged high treason, which was changed to 18 years in prison after the French protests. He was imprisoned in the Jáchymov uranium mines and later in Leopoldov. During his imprisonment, he was denied treatment and was forced to work during malaria attacks. He was released conditionally in 1964 and in 1969 he emigrated to the then GDR. In the second half of the 1970s, he returned to the former Czechoslovakia and worked as a skilled worker. He was twice married, with a daughter Dagmar from his first marriage, a daughter Helena and a son Jan from the second. He died on March 10, 2011, during a spa stay in

Poděbrady Poděbrady (; german: Podiebrad) is a spa town in Nymburk District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 14,000 inhabitants. It lies on the river Elbe. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an u ...

References

Antonín Kratochvíl Antonín Kratochvíl (also written Antonin Kratochvil; born 12 April 1947) is a Czech-born American photojournalist. He is a founding member of VII Photo Agency. Life and work Kratochvíl was born in 1947 in Lovosice, Czechoslovakia. He gained a ...

: Žaluji 1, Česká expedice,

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

1990 (1. české vydání), (str. 107-109) 1929 births 2011 deaths French Resistance members Czech military personnel {{CzechRepublic-mil-bio-stub