Josef Bryks

Josef Bryks, MBE, (; 18 March 1916– 11 August 1957) was a Czechoslovak cavalryman, fighter pilot, prisoner of war and political prisoner.

In 1940 he escaped the German occupation of Czechoslovakia and joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. In 1941 he was shot down over German-occupied France.

Bryks was a prisoner of war for four years, in which time he escaped and was recaptured three times. After his third escape he served in the Polish Home Army in Warsaw, where he helped to get supplies to Jewish resistance fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

After his third recapture Bryks was moved to Stalag Luft III where he helped in the Great Escape, and then to Oflag IV-C in Colditz Castle, where he remained until it was liberated by the US Army in 1945.

In 1945 Bryks returned to Czechoslovakia and his Czechoslovak Air Force career. However, after the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état the Communists purged Bryks and many other officers who had served in Free Czechoslovak units under French or UK command.

In 1949 the Communists sentenced Bryks to 10 years in prison and stripped him of his rank and medals. In 1950 20 years' hard labour and a heavy fine were added to his original sentence. In 1952 he was moved to a prison where he was forced to work in a uranium mine. Bryks died of a heart attack in a prison hospital in 1957.

Bryks was posthumously rehabilitated after the 1989 Velvet Revolution ended the Communist dictatorship.

Early life Josef Bryks was born in 1916 in Lašťany, a village about northeast of Olomouc in Moravia. His parents František and Anna (née Nesvetrová) were farmers. Bryks was the seventh of eight children, but only four survived to adulthood. Bryks studied at the Commercial Academy in Olomouc and passed his Matura (final exam of secondary education) in June 1935.

In October 1935, Bryks joined the Czechoslovak Army. He started his service in a cavalry regiment in Košice. At the same time, he studied at a school for cavalry officers in Pardubice until July 1936. From October 1936 to August 1937, he studied at the Military Academy in Hranice, where he transferred from the cavalry to the air force. He was promoted to lieutenant and specialized as an aerial observer. After his training, he was posted to the 5th Observation Squadron of the 2nd "Dr Edvard Beneš" Aviation Regiment, stationed in Prague. From October 1937, he trained as a pilot in Prostějov. On 30 September 1938, he graduated and was posted to the 33rd Fighter Squadron at Olomouc, where he flew Avia B-534 fighter aircraft. In December 1939, Bryks got a job as a civil servant at the Ministry of the Interior, but after three days he resigned. but the sentence was commuted.

Bryks was then sent to Stalag Luft III, near Sagan in Lower Silesia. The camp's SBO, Group Captain Herbert Massey, sent a medical report to the UK authorities. On 10 October 1943, Bryks was transferred to the British military hospital at Stalag VIII-B in Upper Silesia. He underwent surgery on 7 November and was returned to Stalag Luft III on 23 December. Also in 1946, Gertrude bore Bryks a daughter, Sonia.

Persecution Bryks' air force career continued while a democratic coalition ruled the Third Czechoslovak Republic. But in February 1948, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) seized power in a coup d'état. Bryks was deemed "politically unreliable" and on 9 March was placed on enforced leave Bryks was among those accused of the allaged plot. He was tried on 11 May 1950 and found guilty. His sentence was extended with 20 years hard labour and he was fined Kčs 20,000. On 29 May 1991, the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic posthumously promoted Bryks to colonel. A memorial plaque to him in front of the local war memorial at his birthplace in Lašťany was unveiled on 4 June 1994.

On 28 October 2006, the Czech Republic gave Bryks its highest award, the Order of the White Lion, military division, 2nd class. In 2008 the Czech Republic posthumously promoted Bryks to brigadier general.

Two streets are named after Bryks: one in the Černý Most suburb of Prague and the other in Slavonín on the edge of Olomouc.

In 2007, Czech Television made a documentary about Bryks, Muž, který přecenil českou duši aneb Útěky Josefa Brykse . The film includes an interview with his widow Gertrude.

Honours and awards A Czechoslovak War Cross 1939–1945. Bryks was awarded this decoration three times. Bryks was awarded numerous UK and Czechoslovak honours.

UK honours: Member of Order of the British Empire (MBE) 1939–1945 Star Air Crew Europe Star War Medal 1939–1945.

Czechoslovak honours: Czechoslovak War Cross 1939-1945 – three times Československá medaile Za chrabrost před nepřítelem ("Czechoslovak Medal For Gallantry in the Face of the Enemy") – twice Československá medaile Za zásluhy I. stupně ("Czechoslovak Military Medal for Merit, 1st class") Pamětní medaile čs. zahraniční armády ("Commemorative Medal of the Czechoslovak Army Abroad") with bars for Great Britain and France