Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
5:56 | What was worse than the German occupation of Czechoslovakia? The Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia, says Barry Malac, who was drummed out of the Czech Army as an enemy of the state. The Nazis were from outside, but these were his own people and it caused him to start planning his escape.
Keywords : Barry Malac family brother education passport army Czechoslovakia political Fascist Communist dossier basic training officer Russian Legionnaire parliament Benes border occupation escape Secret Service interrogation RMS Mauretania America
Barry Malac, a Czech living in Vienna, came of age just as his country was "sold down the river" by its French and English allies during the Munich Conference. His schooling became almost non-existent, but he and a friend did manage to make a little musical mischief with the German national anthem despite the loss of freedom that resulted from Nazi occupation.
Along with fellow Czechs, and others from every occupied German country, Barry Malac arrived in Germany to become part of its captive labor force. Only when he saw the fences and guards did he realize that he was not going to be free while he was there. The local German civilians were so naive he was asked, "Why did you volunteer to come here?"
He'd never been a mechanic but he was pretty good at working on German fighter plane engines. That was his work assignment at the labor camp attached to an air base near Munich. Barry Malac was forced there from Czechoslovakia and he was encouraged when the Allied bombing began.
Barry Malac and the rest of the foreign workers near Munich liked to watch the Allied air raids off in the distance. Even when they started coming in right on top of them, they still cheered and applauded.
The workers at the Camp near Munich knew the end was near when a solitary American tank rumbled down the road. The German guards reminded them to tell everyone that they were humanely treated and, then, that they were free to go. Soon, Barry Malac was at home in Czechoslovakia.
