Milan Vybíral

* 1933

  • "A Russian almost shot my sister. She was lucky to escape. She walked into a pub to see a friend, and he pulled a rifle on her but she vanished."

  • "Just before the frontline arrived, the Nazis blew up the bridge over the Bečva. All the window panes blew out and landed on my bed; it was this rude wake-up call. When it was obvious the front was coming, we moved and hid in the cellar. The night before the front came, the Soviet troops started shelling. The cellar walls were shaking so hard I cried with fear. I only calmed down with the Lord's Prayer. I fell asleep, and when I woke up in the morning the frontline had already passed."

  • "We lived there until 1938 when they came for us in the evening and told us to leave quickly, as the area was occupied by the Polish army. They put us in a car and drove us to Hranice to stay with relatives, and right then to my father's birthplace, Týn pod Helfštýnem after that. I vividly recall seeing a lot of lights in the rear behind us. It was at night, so that was likely the army advancing."

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Do not do unto others what you do not want done to you.

In the military (border guard), 1953
In the military (border guard), 1953
zdroj: Witness's archive

Milan Vybíral was born on 3 April 1933 into the family of Antonín and Milada Vybírals as the second son (elder brother Antonín and sister Eva). He spent his early childhood in Soběšovice in the Těšín region, but the family had to leave in rush in October 1938 as the area was occupied by the Polish army after the Munich Agreement. He encountered both German and Soviet soldiers in the school in Ústí near Hranice where the family lived during the Protectorate. He comleted a business academy in Olomouc. He served with the military in the border guard, though mostly in offices. He then had to deal with a difficult personal situation as he was forced to break up with his fiancée at his mother‘s request. He then worked various jobs, but his most fulfilling work was as a gardener. He married Milena Smékalová in 1958. They had three children. From 1960 he worked at Tesla Litovel, first as a worker unloading cargo, and when he completed a graduate course he became a development worker. In 1972, he got an opportunity to work for the Litovel town club teaching music (playing the piano, violin, accordion, and guitar) and playing with several bands in the Litovel region. Retired, he continued teaching music as a freelancer. Music was his lifelong occupation together with beekeeping and orcharding.