Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...

there is joy and peace everywhere around. I just said, “I don’t want to go anywhere, you put
me in here and this is my daily bread.” Then he started telling me that there are some sabotages
in the workshop and that I had to notice it. I told him that we were always given tasks, I had
to fulfill them as I knew if I didn’t my mum could be the one who was harmed. So I was taking
care of only meeting the norms. I then told him, “You don’t want me to snitch around do you?
The only thing I know is that each person is taking care of their own responsibility.” He then
replied, “That’s what you think, that everyone takes care of their own work and doesn’t do any
sabotage on the side, but we know that’s not true.” At that time he chased me out. I simply
told myself that there is no rescue for me and that I will have to fulfill my sentence until the
end. In four months they called me again, but that was already because of my release. There
was a boss from the workshop, a political officer, the head commander and others. They told
me that the President of the Republic, Novotný, pardoned me and that I was free to go. I didn’t
expect that at all. There were others girls with me, standing there who were not released. So
I asked the people who worked there, “Shall I be released alone? Let everyone go home.” They
said, “There were others pardoned as well and no one ever took care of you.” Yet, you know,
they did take care, because the girls who left cried for us, the ones who were staying. Then
they offered me a job in a clothing factory in Prostějov. I was experienced and they said that
they would arrange it. I refused, because I had to go and help my parents. They also told me,
“If something happened to you and people in your village would want to criticize you because
you were in prison, then you must report it to the police.” Yet, I said to myself that they could
jump on my back with that.
In retrospect, how do you feel or what do you remember about prison?
Memories about the prison are the most beautiful thing we have left. We had a wish that
after our release they would make us a town or village where they could concentrate us. We
understood each other better then our own relatives. Although we were all from different
places, we were all of the same opinion and ways of thought.
Did you ever get together after your release?
Yes, of course. I received the biggest amount of mail in our village. They warned me to reduce
it, but I was living through that. When I came back in February there wasn’t work in the
fields yet, so I was writing everyday almost everywhere. When I was first told in prison that
I was going home, I laid down on my mattress and cried. The commander who was quite good
and who always treated us like humans, came up to me. His wife was ill and he did every piece
of work he could, so that she could go to the spas. He came to me and asked me what was
I doing? I just answered, I’m supposed to go home, but I will not go alone, let everyone else go
with me. He couldn’t understand it or he couldn’t get it.
Did your parents know that you were released?
They didn’t know. At night I knocked on the window of my sister’s and they thought I was
a ghost. I stayed with her and her son played and sang. Then I went home where I registered
at the town hall in Rajnochovice. My parents killed a calf right away. Right after getting back
I had to find a job. I found that at the forestry department they were really helpful. I could
have started whenever I wanted, so after my release from prison I stayed home for another
month to relax. The girls over there accepted me and didn’t look at me through their fingers.
It simply went on without any problems. We were planting trees in the spring and the quota
was a hundred trees a day.
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