Historian on forgotten WWII heroes: I feel compelled to tell their life stories
Jiří Klůc is a young historian with a profound interest in World War II history and particularly in forgotten war heroes scattered the world over. With time fast running out for the last remaining survivors, he feels compelled to find them and tell their stories to the public. When he visited Radio Prague’s studio we talked about what sparked his interest in history, his mission to record the stories of WWII heroes and where that journey has taken him.
“I started to be interested in history when I was 15. And specifically the interest in WWII veterans started during COVID when a lot of these war heroes unfortunately passed away. And I realized that the Czech Republic does not have many World War II veterans left. It was then that I started doing research abroad to try to discover more and more people. And to my own surprise, I was successful and discovered a great many. And I'm really shocked by how many forgotten Czech heroes there are still scattered around the world."
How is it possible that they have been forgotten? Because from what I read and saw, they are very eager for contacts with their old homeland. How come we don't know about them?
“Well, some of them lost contact with their old homeland a long time ago. Some of them lost contact 10, 15, 20 years ago. And people thought they had died. But the truth was they emigrated to a new country, started a new life, new families. And they had all sorts of different troubles. So simply, they had no time to get in touch with their homeland.”
And possibly they're too modest to call the embassy and say, I'm still here, I'm still alive.
“Yes, that's true. But they keep their Czech traditions. They love Czech songs, traditional Czech costumes. They keep their mother tongue, the Czech language. Almost all of them. And they speak very good Czech, even 80 or 90 years after they left the country."
How do you go about finding them?
“It's like detective work. I use contacts in the Czech community. You know, someone tells you about someone else. That's how it works. Social media helps a lot, to be honest, I can contact a lot of people. And also, I would just drive from driving nursing home to nursing home. And I found some people like this.”
You discovered many veterans. Antonín Fajkus who flew with the Red Devils and is now 101 or Ervin Hojda. You managed to put a book out about Ervin Hojda, telling his life story and present it to him on his 105th birthday as a gift. Why do you feel it is important to write a book to give the public a complex picture?
“You know, when you talk to these guys, they're so modest. They don't tell you, but you feel it –that they wish their story would be told. And when you write something about them they value it so much. Not only a book, but even just birthday greetings from people. It is hard to describe in words. You would just have to experience it. And they deserve to be honoured. hey fought for the freedom of our country.”
There are probably a lot of life lessons to be learned from these books…
“Oh, definitely. Life lessons not only about how they struggled in the war, but even afterwards, what their lives were like, living in a foreign country. Even at the age of 100 years you learn so much from them. It is a world of experiences. And, you know, I recently found a World War II veteran in Australia who flew with the Royal Air Force. He's Czech. And I was told that he's basically waiting for the moment that some historian will get interested in his life and write about it, bring his story to the public. Imagine he's 101 years old and he's still waiting. These people, you know, they are heroes. They deserve a lot of credit.”
A lot of these war heroes had a very hard time here with the communist regime. So their fate was full of adversity even after the war. Has it happened in documenting their stories that you found that their life story and their feats during the war were twisted by the communist regime? Do you feel that in some way you may also be correcting the picture of them?
“When I was writing about the Eastern Front -that's where I started as a historian – I discovered many heroes who fought in the East. And you would expect that they would be honored by the communism regime. But that's not true at all. There are like hundreds of World War II heroes from the East that ended up in jail or had to emigrate or were executed. I don't think it's rewriting history. That's not the word. But, you know, bringing more stories to light. And unfortunately, there are thousands of WWII veterans that never shared their story, were forgotten. And even those who are not with us anymore, they also deserve to be known because they did a lot for us.”
I believe you also traced the fate of women who fought on the Eastern Front. When did women start actively fighting in the war? And whose story did you document?
“Yes, in 1943 in the Battle of Sokolovo on the Eastern Front was the first time when our women were involved directly in front-line combat. And that's another fascinating story. A lot of these women later emigrated to Australia,the United States, Israel, all over the world, even to Germany. And I am actually writing a book about them. It will take me a couple of more years. But every single woman who was on the front lines –and it was more than 30 of them - every single woman will have her story told. I am working on it. I have been writing this book for five years. It takes me a lot of time because, as I mentioned, their stories are connected to so many different countries all around the world. And I try to find their families and connect everything together.”
I understand you also have a gulag survivor among the people you write about. That must be a powerful story as well.
“Oh, yes, it is. Actually, a few weeks ago, a book on Czechs in gulags was published in this country and I helped to work on this book. So yes, that’s another fascinating chapter – the stories of gulag survivors. We have one more left in the Czech Republic who is almost 103 years old. Or '103 years young', as I put it. I visited him many times. And, his story is also fascinating."
You also tell the story of some German anti-fascist fighters who have not been given credit. Is that right?
“That's very true, yes. I was doing some research in England. And I wrote my master's thesis at the university on Czech-Germans in the Royal Air Force. It was about Czechoslovak citizens who had German roots, who spoke German but fought against the Nazis. None of them is unfortunately left alive. But I talked to some of their children or family members. Being German-speaking they had to escape, you know, escape from the country that was taken over by Nazi Germany. That's something that was not really well researched in WWII history. And, so that's what I'm researching, too. There are so many topics. I wish one day could have 48 hours, not just 24.”
It is 80 years since the war ended. So, of course, all these people are around 100 and over. Yet they are all very active, it seems to me. Throughout their life many have been active in sharing their experience and talking about the war to young people in schools and so on. Do you find that that mission in life is what keeps them going and keeps them optimistic?
"Actually a lot of them never shared their stories. But many did. Soon I'm going to interview a Danish Holocaust survivor who spent a couple of years in Theresienstadt, a ghetto here in the Czech Republic. He does Holocaust education. He toured America, shared a lot of stories with the kids. So for many of them it's a mission to share their experience. And I take it as my own personal mission to collect these stories and pass them on. You know we can learn from the past, we can educate the younger generation so as to never let it happen again. So that's my mission. And the second mission is to honor these people.”
You do a lot of that. You write books and articles telling these people's stories. You've also won a number of prizes for this activity, including one from a Czech History Teachers Association. Do you feel that history, 20th century's history, World War II history is taught adequately in Czech schools-especially in view of what is happening in the world today?
“Yes, history is repeating itself. That's what I can say 100 percent. I love history and I love to tell the stories. And that's what I feel is very important. Not many people do. But I think it's getting better and better. I think that schools and teachers are working on it. But with the social media today, everything is so fast. People don't have time. So if I create an Instagram reel that has 40 seconds on social media, it can get more attention than, you know, one hour at school. That's how the world is. And I'm really surprised by how many people have seen my short videos on Instagram. I'm really shocked in a good way. And it gives me hope that we might learn from the past –though I’ m also a little afraid that we humans will never learn."
But you have to keep trying…
“Yes, I'm trying my best to do that.”
You have met a lot of really exceptional people, have had the privilege to spend hours with them, hear their stories. Has it changed you in any way? In what way have these meetings enriched you?
“Oh, a lot. They're like a life of experience. When I ask them what they do keep fit, a lot of them say “have a positive attitude”. “Read good books, work, and don't worry about what you cannot influence” - that's what a lot of veterans told me. Some of them make jokes like, “happy wife, happy life” and stuff like that. But the main advice is to have a positive attitude, stay active, do some exercise or walk and even if you're getting old, use your brain. And that's so true.”
Jiří Kluc is a Czech historian with a profound interest in the intricacies of 20th-century history, particularly the events surrounding World War II. He graduated from Charles University Prague, and is currently pursuing his Ph.D., focusing on the history of Czechoslovakia and Central Europe during the 20th century. He is committed to helping preserve the stories of Holocaust survivors and War veterans, with the goal of safeguarding their testimonies for future generations.
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