Vratislav Polesný (1923–1949)
Vratislav Polesný was born at Rataje nad Sázavou (Kutná Hora District, Central Bohemian Region) on March 30, 1923, into a family of a joiner. His mother was a housewife and the family had three children. After finishing elementary school at Sázava and three years of junior secondary school, he went to learn to be a miller. When the parents got into a burdensome financial situation, he suspended his training and went to work as a builder’s labourer. He was called up to do forced labour in Nazi Germany in 1941, and worked in the town of Reutgen in a lathe-making factory until the end of war. After his return to Czechoslovakia he commenced compulsory military service at the military unit at Milovice, and when it was over he went to work as a locksmith in the Tatra factory in Kolín. As of November 1947 he worked in the Kavalír glass factory in Sázava. He got married in 1945 and had two children, son Petr and daughter Anna. He did not join any political party.
Vratislav Polesný was dissatisfied with the post-February situation and tried to flee the country illegally, but he was detained by a police guard at Aš on February 24, 1949 and sent to the Litoměřice prison. In April he escaped from the prison together with four other prisoners, with the help of several local inhabitants. He was in hiding in Prague, in the flat of Mr and Mrs Charvát. On May 12, 1949 he tried to free political prisoners from the Litoměřice prison, together with the Charvats and another three persons. The action had been originally planned for May 7 but the group had failed to penetrate into the prison. They were armed with pistols and two tubes of ecrasite which they intended to use to blow up the prison gate in case of need. The action ended up unsuccessfully. At first they succeeded and by way of a trick penetrated into the facility where they captured two warders. However, one of the warders started to run away in an unguarded moment and raised alarm. In the gunfight that followed , Vlasta Charvátová wounded one of the warders and the group had to flee.
Vratislav Polesný was arrested on May 17, 1949 together with many other people and accused of a number of offences which he allegedly committed as a member of the illegal organization ZVON. According to communist investigators, this organization was only one of many resistance groups planning an armed putsch on May 17. The State Court in Prague, with chairman JUDr. Jaroslav Novák and prosecutor Dr. Čížek, sentenced him to death on charges of high treason on August 22, 1949. The same punishment was given to Josef Charvát, while the other members of the group were sentenced to many years of imprisonment, including one life sentence. After an unsuccessful appeal and non-granting of pardon, Vratislav Polesný and Josef Charvát were executed on November 5, 1949. Emanuel Čančík, Jaroslav Borkovec, Vratislav Janda and Květoslav Prokeš were executed on the same day, all of them in connection with alleged preparation of an anti-communist uprising in May.