Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...

When were you locked up and what was the process like?
On January 4, 1952. Before Christmas they were interrogating me all night in Bartolomějská
Street 4 . In the morning they released me and I didn’t wait for anything. I hopped on my motorbike
and went straight to Heřmanův Městec to destroy the radio. If that didn’t go well then
there would be a bad ending for the whole family because it was in the family’s house. So I destroyed
it successfully and on January 4 I was definitively locked up. It happened in the evening
on Charles Square when I was coming home from school. They took me back to Bartolomějská.
They left me there for four days. I was in such a state that it would be hardly possible to
transport me somewhere. Then they took me to Pardubice. The whole group was investigated
in Pardubice in the state police department. In Bartolomějská I had a hearing and of course
I denied almost everything. I only admitted that I knew the people from the group and they
offered me cooperation. That was unacceptable for me, but I made an agreement with them
that I would think about it. During the second interrogation there was nothing to think about
and I had to say it and sign a piece of paper with a statement that I was not going to cooperate
with the state police. This way, things started moving in a certain direction. At first they were
trying to convince me to work for them because they needed some people, especially people
who knew foreign languages. At that time I was already able to speak English and German
very well. So for this reason I was a really attractive person for them. Yet, we didn’t make any
agreements (laughs) and then a big storm started (fight) and of course I answered on the first
punch. I knew Jujitsu and I was even boxing for a while, but that didn’t help in the end. At first
it was three on one and I don’t even know how many of them got together on me there after
that. They really finished me in a bad way, it cost me three teeth and one ear. Today I hardly
hear out of my left ear.
Where in Bartolemějská was this happening?
In some police room and I don’t know where because they were always blindfolding me.
When you don’t know the building it’s hard to get any chance of orientation. We went up the
steps, down the steps, and then they turned me around three times, and took me somewhere
again. What sense did this have, I don’t know? Maybe they were trying to depress me. They
could have had my trial anywhere, it wouldn’t have mattered. I knew I was there and that they
were interrogating me, but why were they making such theatrics, I don’t know. Because this
wasn’t clear to me, it didn’t depress me at all.
Did someone give you first aid?
No, no one through the whole investigation process gave me first aid. I don’t think they even
had a doctor there.
Were you alone in Bartolomějská or were you with someone?
For the first two days I was alone and before they took me to Pardubice they took me to an
escort room where there were three or four of us. I hardly saw the people because they threw
me into the room in the evening and took me out in the morning. I don’t remember anything.
How did that beating affect you? How did you explain it to yourself?
One had some information about the methods of investigation that the SS had. We knew
that and these methods would not be better or worse. I personally wasn’t really surprised
about all of it.
4 Bartolomějská – a prison in Prague.
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