Help with Either Dual Nationality or Citizenship

[I,ve just joined the site , primarily to try and find anything about my father (SANISLAV KODYTEK) who was a navigator on 311 squadron based at HONITON & EAST WRETHAM.
Like many of his generation he would,nt talk about his war experiences but on his death I,ve found his log-book , medals etc. and it has made me all the more determined to try and piece together his wartime career.
All I know is he escaped from Czechoslovakia in 1939 and ended up in uk via Turkey and Spain.
He ended up in WOODFORD outside Manchester where he met and married my mother.
This is all I know and would be grateful for any information or tips to try
and find out more.

 

I'm actually amazed I don't know him, or you for that matter (I presume his name was Stanislav, not Sanislav.)

As I described earlier in this thread, my father, Rudolf Poledník, was also in 311 Squadron, following what I think was the more usual route out of Czechoslovakia, out through Poland to the south of France and up to Cholmondley Park.

Just after the war, he ran the Czech Club in West Hampstead in London but soon moved up to Manchester where, would you believe it, he had a butcher's shop, first in Bramhall and then in Cheadle Hulme in his adopted name of Chapman. (For those of you know don't know the North West of England, Woodford is right next to Bramhall.) In Bramhall, the shop was next to the large garage opposite Woolworth's, and in Cheadle Hulme, it was up near the traffic lights on the right hand side, just before the furniture shop.

He too married an English woman and we lived in Stockport, on Dialstone Lane, near Stockport School on Mile End Lane, and the Davenport Theatre, if you know where they are, Stanislav.

There was quite a big Czech community in and around Manchester and they met regularly in each other's homes for card evenings and because Dad was a butcher, he provided párky for a Czech National Day 'do' every year, latterly in the Civic Hall in Hazel Grove.

Some of the names I remember were Slava Šulc, whose widow, Olga, is still alive and lives in Cuddington, I think it is; Josef Novák, the tailor from Ramsbottom; Mirek Jungr and his German wife, Ingrid, who lived near us in Stockport; Milo Bitten and his English wife, Joan, who lived in Altrincham - they are still alive although Joan has been in a home for some years; Karel Rabin and his Scottish wife, Chris, who had a TV repair business in Marple. Do any of them ring a bell? I have his address book somewhere and can find others if you're interested.

I also have his RAF log book and it would be interesting to compare the entries...

Are you planning a trip to Prague? Because there is a super little private museum in the Hotel Duo in Prosek, put together by the owner, Jan Horal. (Again, there is more about this earlier in the thread.) I can't remember which squadron he was in but the exhibition is basically all his wartime memorabilia. They have monthly meetings of the few Czech veterans who went back after the war and who are still alive, together with their wives/widows. I have been a few times but their English is limited and I couldn't find anyone who knew my father. But the exhibition is worth seeing in its own right.

But probably the most useful person for you to find is an English man called somebody Davey. He was a bit younger than my Dad and his fellow Czechs and so might still be alive. Although I never quite knew what his connection was, I think he sort of acted as their RAF historian and if anyone knew your father, he would have done. I'm not sure I have any more details but if you don't mind waiting until after Christmas - I just have too much to do, with visitors coming to Prague to dig it all out now - I'll see what I've got packed away in my boxes here.

 

Just a quick question - does the movie Tmavomodrý svět relate to this? There may have been more than one group of Czechs in England and I'm not sure if the story is based on anything real or not.

 

Tmavomodry svet is fictional story, but based on real basis. There were four Czechoslovak manned RAF squadrons ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ro ... vak_manned ).

And after war, communists really imprisoned many these hero pilots , because they were afraid, they would stand up against regime.

 

Yes, Glenn. My understanding is that they all started off at the same camp at Cholmondley Park, which is near Liverpool in the North West of England, and then joined the Czech Squadrons 310-313. I know 311 was a bomber squadron and I think there might have been another one, and the others were fighter squadrons.

Like Stanislav, Dad didn't talk about it after the war; at least he didn't to me because he was well in his 40's when I was born and like most youngsters, I wasn't interested until it was too late.

Tmavomodrý svět is a wonderful film and must be based on their experiences. I always think that my father would have been like the 'pilot' who stomped out of the English class!

I say pilot because he was actually a radio operator/rear gunner and I remember when I went round the Pathfinder Museum in Huntingdon with John Major (he was MP for Huntingdon) and told that to the Squadron Leader who was showing us round, he looked very surprised and said "And he survived?" That was because most of them died because of their vulnerable position at the back of the bomber. But fortunately, he survived both the Germans and, because he married my mother and stayed in the UK, the Communists, post-48 in Czechoslovakia, as portrayed so movingly in Tmavomodrý svět

Here's the Wiki link to 311 Squadron:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._311_Squadron_RAF

 

Eso beat me to it because I was going on a bit...

 

I just finished watching Pelišky, so I may be a bit sentimental, but I too must express my admiration for your fathers and grandfathers. My wife and I recently went to the Czechoslovak House in West Hampstead and found it remarkable. I must say that I will look at the old war photos with a bit more insight now. They are inspiring and make my imagination run. I know it was not all confetti and champagne, but man, what a time...

-Today I am writing from Mělník, CR-tommorrow from London.

Na zdravy a dobrou noc!

 

I'm think I've mentioned it here before, BM, but at the risk of boring everyone with it again, late father, Rudolf Poledník, was the manager of what was then Czechoslovak National House, and is now the Czech and Slovak National House, in West Hampstead, just after the war. His Naturalisation Certificate has it as his address. so he must have actually lived there.

We went many times when we lived in London - the British Czech and Slovak Association has a monthly social evening there; pm me, anyone, if you're in London and would like details, or they're on Facebook - and I had my 'leaving dinner' there before moving to Prague. I went for the first time in 1981, when my father died, soon after I had moved to London, and they gave me kolače to take home to Manchester for his funeral. :cry:

 

I'm curious. Did you find story about man with leather bag and "Orders were clear" funny?

 

"No one can get through!" Yes, I found it real funny!

Best parts of the movie have to be the "communist gnocci" and offer of "good quality sex" scenes!

"Naming bullets" in the trenches is good too!

 

"Flower alternative in a People's Army officer's family? I am curious what Comrade Daddy will say to that!"

 

Thanks. I asked because I know some foreigners who didn't found it funny at all.