Josef Turek

Josef Turek died on Thursday 12 November 2026 at the veterans' care centre of the Military Hospital in Olomouc, aged 100. His death was announced on X by the Defence Ministry's department for war veterans and war graves, the day after Czechia's Veterans Day. The hospital's director, Martin Svoboda, recalled him as the holder of many decorations and, since February 2026, a knight of the Legion of Honour. No cause of death was made public, and funeral arrangements had not been announced at the time of the first reports.

Josef Turek was born on 9 September 1926 in Doubrava near Karvina, in the Karvina region of Czech Silesia, into a mining family. He trained as a locksmith.

After the occupation, the area became part of the German Reich. His father, afraid of losing his job, had himself registered on the list of citizens of German nationality. As a consequence, Josef was compelled in the spring of 1944, at the age of 17 or 18, to enlist in the German army, and he served for around half a year with an infantry regiment in occupied France.

On 15 September 1944 Turek was captured in France by American troops and sent to a prisoner of war camp in Britain. There he pressed to be allowed to join the Czechoslovak forces in exile, and after two months he was accepted into the Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade.

As a tankman, and according to the Military Hospital Olomouc as a tank commander, he took part in the siege of Dunkirk. The brigade, commanded by General Alois Liska, joined the encirclement of the port in October 1944, where about twelve thousand German soldiers were trapped. Its task was to stop the garrison breaking out, and the fighting continued until the Germans capitulated on 9 May 1945.

While he was at the front, his family received a letter reporting that he had been killed. After demobilisation he returned home, to their astonishment. He worked for a short time as an instructor of tank drivers at the garrison in Praslavice, then joined Czechoslovak State Railways, where he spent a long career as a shunter. He kept away from politics, but his service in the West meant the Communist authorities limited him to manual work for most of his working life. He later held the rank of colonel in retirement.

Turek had a son, Josef Turek Jr., who shared his father's story in interviews published by the Czech Ministry of Defence, including the series Svedectvi hrdinu (Testimony of Heroes). In his final years he lived at the Centre for Comprehensive Care for Veterans at the Military Hospital in Olomouc, where his family visited him regularly. He celebrated his 100th birthday in September 2026.

Turek was the last Czechoslovak participant in the siege of Dunkirk living in Czechia, and his death was widely reported as the closing of a chapter of national memory of the Second World War. His story, from forced service in German uniform to fighting for Czechoslovakia and then decades of quiet manual work under Communism, was recorded by the Ministry of Defence as part of its effort to preserve the testimony of the last war veterans. France recognised his part in the liberation with the Legion of Honour, and Czechoslovakia with the Military Commemorative Medal with the France clasp.