Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...

What comes to mind when you hear the name Jáchymov today?
Well you know I can’t really say it nicely.
In total, how many years did you stay in prison?
Eleven years, four months, and a couple days.
What was it like to return to civilian life?
I was released on the basis of pardon. My family was alright, but it was something like
a whale of tears. The landlord let me into the house and I rang the doorbell and I could hear
how my daughter was running towards it. She was thirteen years old. My wife’s schoolmate
got a message that he was coming back, but my family didn’t hear anything from me. In spite
of that, they expected me.
How did you look for new employment?
First I started as a bricklayer and carpenter in a company called Stavba. They were bigger
thieves then criminals because for all the work I did I earned about a thousand crowns a month.
These people were the bigger thieves. We worked in small groups, the maximum number was
seven people. I was writing a building book for them and I could hear how a bricklayer said,
“Hey, what are you doing? How come you are writing a building book, doctors are supposed
to do that.” Then the master builder said, “He’s not supposed to do that, he was in prison.” In
this company I stayed just for a while because fortunately my mother-in-law saw an announcement
that Svazarm was opening a course for TV mechanics and so she said, “Please go there,
you know how to do these things.” So I went and they told me, “Well the course is running,
go and ask if they will accept you.” So I went and this teacher Kůra was like, “But the course
is already running and it wouldn’t be anything for you man.” We talked it over there and he
said finally, “You know how to do all this. You know what, in two weeks there are the exams
for new TV mechanics and technicians and I will sign you in. If you do the exam well I will give
you a job, if not, you can try again next year.” I passed with an A and I started working as a TV
mechanic. If you remember I was studying at the German technical school, but I never talked
about it much. For twenty years I was working as a TV repairman (laughing).
Did you go back to the law?
Yes, I did. I worked for the Counsel for Crimes of Communism, Documentation, and Investigation
in the 1990’s.
What long-term effects did prison life have on your health?
Well the ear is the first thing. I’m deaf as a post in that ear and I think that I had a problem
with my colon and problems with my blood because of prison life. In January 2008 I had an
operation where they took about 20 centimeters out of my colon because I was bleeding into
my intestines. I also have a medical statement that I have only 2,700,000 red blood cells and
in 1959 I had 3,300,000, but a man is supposed to have about 5,000,000. I had problems with
hemoglobin. All the problems I’ve had is a result of the radioactivity.
When you look at your life and what you went through, is there anything you would want
to say to young people?
I would only want to tell them to work as well as possible and to not believe in people who
speak too much. They should always look to see if one is doing what he says. People today talk
too much.
Thank you for the interview.
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