Jiří Potůček

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Jiří Potůček

Jiří Potůček (born July 12, 1919 in Bruneck , † July 2, 1942 in the forest between the villages of Trnová and Rosice nad Labem) was a personality of the Czechoslovak resistance 1939-1945 against National Socialism . Potůček was a soldier and non-commissioned officer in Czechoslovakia . As a radio operator with the code name Tolar, he was one of the three parachute agents of Operation Silver A , who u. a. were involved with the operation group Anthropoid in the assassination attempt on the deputy Reich Protector in Bohemia and Moravia Reinhard Heydrich . The discovery of the activities of the illegal broadcaster Libuše led to the murder of all adult residents of the village of Ležáky .

Life

Jiří Potůček was born in Bruneck, South Tyrol . His father, Vilém Potůček, was Count Sternberg's personal servant . Mother Antonie, b. Karel was a chambermaid for Graf Sternberg. He had no siblings. The family lived in the Sternberg Palace and later moved to Vranov near Rokycany . Here the parents bought a farmhouse.

He graduated from elementary school in Vranov and secondary school in Horní Stráž. After completing an apprenticeship at the town hall, he joined the Bata company , where he worked as a trainer in the rubber sector. Here he was also waiting for passport matters to be resolved, since Bata was to send him to the United States .

In exile

When the Second World War broke out , he was on a business trip in Osijek , Yugoslavia . From there he went through Greece , Turkey and Syria to France , where he was presented to the Czechoslovak army in exile on January 14, 1940 in Agde . He was assigned to be a signaler for a telephone company. He completed radio training and did not take part in the Western campaign . After the occupation of France , he was evacuated to Great Britain on June 26, 1940 . He was assigned to the liaison department and promoted to NCO on October 28, 1940.

In the summer of 1940, Jiří Potůček was selected for training for special tasks. From September 19 to December 25, 1940, he completed a basic sabotage course, parachutist training at the Ringway paratrooper school near Manchester and a radio telegraphy course. At this point he was already assigned to Operation Silver A as a radio operator .

resistance

Monument to Jiří Potůček at the place where he died

Shortly after midnight on December 29, 1941, he and the group commanders Alfréd Bartoš and Josef Valčík were deposed near the village of Senice near Podebrady . On the territory of the Protectorate , they operated an illegal transmitter with the code name Libuše . Potůček first contacted London on January 15, 1942 . He sent from the Hluboká quarry (where he worked as a night watchman with false documents called Alois Tolar ) near the villages of Ležáky and Bohdaneč . In mid-June 1942 he moved to a new hiding place in the village of Končiny near Červený Kostelec , where the Gestapo invaded on June 30, 1942 . Jiří Potůček shot himself free and fled for another three days before returning to the Pardubice region. Starved and tired, he fell asleep in the bushes near Trnová. Here the Czech gendarme Karel Půlpán discovered him and shot him in his sleep or to defend himself. After the autopsy , the body was buried in a mass grave in the Ďáblice cemetery.

On September 5, 1945 he was promoted to lieutenant in memoriam , and in December of the same year he was promoted to lieutenant of the infantry in a further step. On April 7, 1948 he was promoted to captain of the infantry and on June 24, 2002 to lieutenant colonel.

The place where Jiří Potůček died in a forest on the northern edge of Pardubice is marked by a monument (coordinates 50 ° 3'4.97 "N 15 ° 44'58.46" E), and the nearest road is named after him. Another monument and a plaque in Břasy remind of the resistance fighter.

literature

  • Rudolf Ströbinger : The attack in Prague. Verlag Politisches Archiv, Landshut 1976, p. 204.
  • Hugo Theisinger: The Sudeten Germans: Origin, the time under Konrad Henlein and Adolf Hitler, expulsion - a contribution to Sudeten German history. Verlag / Druckerei Hans Obermayer, Buchloe 1987, p. 408.
  • Zdeněk Jelínek: Operace Silver A . Praha 1992, ISBN 80-206-0112-0 .
  • Jiri Fidler: Atentát 1942. Jota, Prague 2002, ISBN 80-7217-177-1 .
  • Martin Reichl: Cesty osudu. Svět křídel, Cheb 2004, ISBN 80-86808-04-1 .
  • Jaroslav Láník et al .: Vojenské osobnosti československého odboje 1939–1945. Ministerstvo obrany ČR-AVIS, Praha 2005, ISBN 80-7278-233-9 , p. 236, online (archived) at: vojenskaakademiehranice.ic.cz / ...
  • Pavlína Nývltová: Příběh odvahy a zrady. Pavel Mervart, [s. l.] 2007, ISBN 978-80-86818-40-5 .

Web links

Commons : Jiří Potůček  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martin Reichl: Cesty osudu. Svět křídel, 2004, p. 36.
  2. ↑ Ibid.
  3. ↑ Jiří Fidler: Atentát 1942. Jota, Praha 2002.
  4. ↑ Heydrich - konečné řešení: Zůstal jsem sám! Pořad České televize.
  5. ^ Vojtěch Kyncl: Akce Ležáky. Obyčejná vesnice. České Budějovice: 2007. Chap. 7.8.3 Smrt Jiřího Potůčka a komunistický rozsudek nad Karlem Půlpánem (The Death of Jiří Potůček and the Communist Judgment against Karel Půlpán), p. 144.
personal data
SURNAME Potůček, Jiří
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czechoslovak NCO and resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH July 12, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Brunico
DATE OF DEATH July 2, 1942
Place of death Pardubice