Z vojnového pilota „nepriateľ ľudovo-demokratického Československa“. Životné osudy letca Františka Bošmanského

The War Pilot made the “Enemy of the People’s Democratic Czechoslovakia”. Life of Military Pilot František Bošmanský

Autor: ŠUMICHRAST Peter

ŠUMICHRAST, Peter: Z vojnového pilota „nepriateľ ľudovo-demokratického Československa“. Životné osudy letca Františka Bošmanského

ŠUMICHRAST, Peter: The War Pilot made the “Enemy of the People’s Democratic Czechoslovakia”. Life of Military Pilot František Bošmanský.

Vojenská história, 4, 17, 2013, pp. 145-163.

Author of the published material has processed the fate of one of the forgotten Czechoslovak pilots, Slovak František Bošmansky, who was, during the World War 2., the military pilot not only in the Slovak air forces but also in the Czechoslovak air force units in the USSR and in the post-war Czechoslovak air forces. His military service in the Czechoslovak Army was only interrupted by the radical change of political regime in the Czechoslovak Republic after February 1948. František Bošmansky considered discharge from the Czechoslovak military air forces as a personal injustice and therefore planned an illegal emigration. However, he did not manage to fulfil his intention and was arrested and issued to Czechoslovakia with his companion after having landed on a sport aircraft in the Soviet zone of Austria. In the lawsuit that followed, he was sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment. In the prison, he was preparing an escape with other co-prisoners, which was, however, detected. Subsequently, his original sentence was extended by further 9 months. After release from the prison, he was working in manual occupations, being rehabilitated only after 1989. The eventful fate of the named pilot is used here for clear demonstration of the monstrosity of the political regime ruling in Czechoslovakia after 1948, persecuting its citizens and suppressing their democratic civil rights in a flagrant way, without any legitimate reason.

Keywords: Military History. Slovakia. World War 2. František Bošmanský.

Ročník: 17 | Číslo: 4/2013 | Stránky: 145-163