Krteček, the hero of Miler’s animated children’s tales, is popular among children in Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Russia, Scandinavia, France and Japan - and even in China. The first episode of the series about Krteček came to light in 1957 and it was called “How the Mole Got his Trousers”. Zdeněk Miler then created
tens of episodes for children. Except for the story about the mole and his trousers, all the other episodes of the series are silent. Krteček and his little friends communicate with each other by simple sounds, usually “yooo” and “hele”. They are the voices of Miler’s daughters Kateřina and Barbora.
Obviously, Krteček was not the only animated character that Zdeněk Miler created. His other popular characters of children’s tales include the two friends, frog and mouse, and there were two different series, one About a Cricket, the other About a Puppy. Zdeněk Miler debuted with an animated film called “About a Millionaire Who Stole the Sun” from 1948.
The information about the death of the popular artist Zdeněk Miler (30 Nov. 2011) came just at the moment when his granddaughter Karolína Milerová announced the establishment of the Zdeněk Miler Foundation, which aims to help children and support their education.