Miloš Knorr, the brave officer from the Western Front decided to escape to the free world after the communist coup. He managed to get through the border river Thaya, paradoxically with the assistance of the local State Security commander.

He was one of the officers who showed courage during the war. First he ran to France, after its fall he moved to England. In Normandy he already disembarked as an officer of the British 43rd Reconnaissance Regiment. He got with it to the Rhine. As an intelligence officer he monitored the situation on battlefields, interrogated prisoners and supervised the repatriation of prisoners from concentration camps. After returning to Czechoslovakia he began to lecture at the University of War in Prague.

When he was forced to join the Communist Party after the communist coup, he decided to escape. He was thirty years old at that time. He prepared the escape carefully. He procured Austrian money and false documents. He arranged transportation via Austrian territory, which was occupied by the Soviets at that time.

His acquaintance from the Security in Znojmo transferred him on 1st May across the border river Thaya. He walked through the woods with his entire family, pretending to look for mushrooms. They crossed the river Thaya and Knorr happily arrived in Vienna.

Afterwards he worked as an intelligence officer for general Moravec, led intelligence operations in former Czechoslovakia. Later he settled in the USA and worked for an insurance company. He died on 4 July 2008 in New York.


Photo gallery

Miloš Knorr from the period after the fall of the Iron Curtain in the USA
Miloš Knorr from the period after the fall of the Iron Curtain in the USAMiloš Knorr from the period after the fall of the Iron Curtain in the USAMiloš Knorr from the period after the fall of the Iron Curtain in the USAMiloš Knorr from the period after the fall of the Iron Curtain in the USA

Miloš Knorr - archive photo
Miloš KnorrMiloš Knorr


Walking route suggestion

  1. Znojmo – the town
  2. Along the Thaya River and then across the river towards the Austrian border in National Park Podyjí