Las Vegan recalls escape to freedom

     By Leanne Mieszala
     View staff writer
      It was July 1986 when Frank Zdenek Pohl and his friend, Robert Ospald, decided it was time to break free from communist controlled Czechoslovakia.
      It would take a daring escape.
      After spending almost a week hiking away from open view until reaching the 180-foot tall electrical tower they had to climb, the daring duo glided to independence by riding on power lines using self-invented "trolleys."
      "We actually went right above the guard tower," Pohl, a Las Vegas resident, recalls more than 12 years later. "We were watching the guards and were so close to them that we could hear everything they were saying. We could even hear a dog's yawn."
      The escape took place six minutes past midnight during one of the most violent electrical storms of the summer, Pohl vividly remembers.
      While bolts of lightning flashed all around, the rain pounding on the metal roof of the guard's tower actually helped hide the noises they made while climbing the tower and riding the wire.
      Upon completion of their journey across the 380,000 volt cable, Pohl and Ospald climbed down from the tower and continued walking until they stepped foot on the soil of freedom in Austria.
      "The first thing we did was report ourselves to the first police station we found," Pohl said. "The police knew that we had escaped but were unable to understand what we were telling them because of their limited knowledge of the English language."
      As a result, the police summoned an interpreter who was an Austrian policeman. He was responsible for all the protocols which are the confessions or reasons a refugee gives for escaping. The interpreter writes the protocols down in German, the escapee signs it and then it is turned over to the Austrian ministry.
      "Based on the reasons, the refugees either are or are not granted asylum in Austria," Pohl explained.
      While stating their reasons for escaping, the two were coerced into signing a document they didn't understand because it was written in German.
      Unfortunately for Pohl and Ospald, this translator also turned out to be a member of the Czech secret police and killed any chances of the two obtaining political asylum in Austria by turning their reasons for fleeing against them.
      As a result, Pohl and Ospald were not granted asylum in Austria and were confined to a refugee camp for over two years.
      "They were so mad that we escaped because of all the bad publicity involved," Pohl said. "At that time, the Russians were showing that everything was getting to be better and now all of a sudden here were two ordinary workers who had escaped under such horrible circumstances. It made people wonder what was really going on."
      While Pohl was finally allowed to go to the United States, Ospald was restricted to Austria because he had previously been in jail in the Czech Republic and this was being used against him.
      Today, Ospald not only has been granted political asylum in Austria but has a citizenship there as well.
      "We were given a hard time on everything not because we escaped, but because of the way we escaped," Pohl said.
      The wild escape came after the two failed a more conventional attempt by driving across the Czech-Hungarian border, where they told border guards they wanted to do some "Christmas shopping." They were denied entrance.
      "We knew that we had to come up with something that would contradict common sense," Pohl said.
      With their engineering background serving as their guide, the determined twosome began to meet regularly at Ospald's apartment to construct the "trolleys" they believed would slide them to freedom.
      "The materials for these trolleys were very, very hard to find. Basically, we had to lie, cheat and steal to get them," said Pohl, referring to the pipes he obtained while sneaking onto trains at night, unscrewing the cylinders with a screwdriver and getting them home in a sack.
      Even though they were always concerned about being caught, Pohl said it was a risk worth taking although the consequences were brutal.
      "If we got caught somewhere in the middle of the way, we could have made up a story that we were on our way to the mountains in Slovakia where we were going to test this as a rescue type of device," Pohl said. "On the other hand, if we got caught next to the power line tower, there is no way we would have come up with any story. That would have been it. Under normal circumstances, they would have kicked the living hell out of you and thrown you into jail for a year or two. But with that type of escape, knowing how much embarrassment it would have caused them, they probably would have just shot us."
      Even though there have been quite a few people on record who had escaped this highly developed capitalistic country, the methods used by Pohl and Ospald were unique.
      "Some people did escape across the border, but they were very few and far between," Pohl said. "We were the only two people that ever did it this way. No one else did it after us."
      Pohl never even made his own family aware of his intentions to flee Czechoslovakia, and it wasn't until a week after his escape that he finally got in touch with his mother.
      What Pohl found to be quite unusual is what occurred to his parents after they were called to the police station following his breakout.
      "Usually the secret police gave a hard time to the parents of the escapees, but they were just so shocked they simply said to my parents, `They're good, what can we say,' and never did anything to them," Pohl said. "A year later, however, they ended up suspending their passports so they wouldn't be able to travel anywhere."
      Pohl believes the reason his parents were spared any punishment was because of telephone conversations he had with them.
      Realizing his parents' telephone lines were being tapped, Pohl would say, "If you have any trouble, I want to know about it, because I'm going to take advantage of my publicity and will smear it all over the media."
      Pohl's parents never feared any repercussions as a result of their son's actions, but rather were heartbroken over his escape.
      "They didn't think they were ever going to see me again," Pohl said. "I knew it wasn't going to take forever for communism to collapse. I didn't know how I was going to do it, but I knew I would see them sooner or later."
      Today, Ospald continues to enjoy his newfound liberation in Austria while Pohl's parents and two younger brothers continue to reside in the new Czech Republic.
      Meanwhile, Pohl is in the process of looking for a publisher for his book which will tell the entire story of the escape to freedom.
      If he's able to secure funding, Pohl also anticipates returning to the Czech Republic in order to establish a hemp growing operation. Over 25,000 products can be made from hemp plants, which grow anywhere from 8 to 12 feet high, including paper and rope.
      "(Czechoslovakia) grew so much hemp during the 1930s until it was outlawed," Pohl said. "The government campaigned against marijuana and took advantage of individuals not knowing the difference and labeled hemp as being the same as marijuana."
      Although hemp is illegal in the United States, it's now permitted for commercial purposes in the Czech Republic, and Pohl said he views it as a gold mine.