Jan Křižan (1915–1951)
Jan Křižan was born in Valašské Meziříčí (Vsetín District, Zlín Region) on November 12, 1915 into a rich family of a factory and steam-sawmill owner. After finishing elementary and lower secondary school and passing his GCE at the Commercial Academy in Brno, he commenced studies at the Masaryk University Faculty of Law in Brno, but did not finish them. In March 1938 he left for Bavarian Rosenheim for half-year studies at a timber technical school. After his return to Czechoslovakia he worked at his father’s business for a short time, and at the beginning of March 1939 he was called up for compulsory military service. That was, however, suspended by the German occupation.
Jan Křižan returned to the family business. In 1939 he got married and had three sons, Jan, Jiří and Ondřej. After his father’s death in 1941, he became one of the heirs of a property worth some 3,500,000 (Czechoslovak) crowns, together with his two sisters and a step-brother. In 1945 he joined the National Social Party and remained its rank-and-file member until February 1948. He was also member of the Sokol physical training organization and joined the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement (ROH), but he never held any major function in any of these organizations.
After the war his property was nationalized. At first he tried to defend it by legal means, but ended up as an employee of the Moravian-Wallachian Sawmill enterprise in Valašské Meziříčí. The post-February situation and fear of possible arrest led him to think about emigration. He tried to flee the country at the close of 1949, together with his acquaintances František Boháč, former army officer, and Vladimír Krejčiřík. In the night of January 1, 1950, they were on their way to the Austrian border, which they planned to cross near Mikulov, when their car was stopped by a two-member armed guard. When ordered to return to Mikulov under the escort of the guard, Jan Křižan shot dead Chief Police Constable Václav Anšlág and, together with František Boháč, seriously wounded Private Edmund Sziklai.
Event though they succeeded in crossing the state border, their attempt to get to Vienna was foiled. They were all detained by the Soviet army (viz Boháč) which handed them over to Czechoslovak authorities as early as January 4, 1950. On December 14, the State Court in Brno found Jan Křižan guilty of the charges of high treason, state secret betrayal, premeditated murder and incomplete murder, and sentenced him to death. He was executed in Brno on June 14, 1951.