Ze vzpomínek Josefa Martínka, účastníka tří odbojů

Abstract

A native of Poděbrady, poet, editor of the socialist press, pedagogue and federal official, Josef “Joe” Martínek (23 March 1889 — 20 March 1980) lived in the United States from a young age and joined all three resistance movements. He took part in Masaryk’s foreign action during the First World War; as an official of the Czechoslovak National Council of America (ČSNRA), he was instrumental in fundraising for Edvard Beneš in the spring of 1939, thanks to which the former president was able to initiate the struggle for the liberation of the republic following the Nazi occupation of Bohemia and Moravia; and, finally, he also aided exiles who fled Czechoslovakia after February 1948 and found a new home overseas. This text is an as yet unpublished transcript of Martínek’s memoirs recorded by Zdeněk Hruban, founder of the Archive of Czechs and Slovaks Abroad at the University of Chicago.