Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...

prison looks totally different today. The “A” building cracked during a detonation in Semtín 5 .
We lived there for a little longer. The building was supported by wooden columns, but they
were afraid we would die there and built new quarters – blocks “C” and “D” and block “E”
next to “B.” The “C” and “D” blocks were full of rats after one week. They were very wet and
mildewed inside and there was hoarfrost in the winter. They stopped using the “A” building
and moved us. Before those new buildings were finished, they emptied the big storehouses of
the prison, put the straw mattresses on the floor and moved us in. There were sixty of us and
we had only one toilet, which was the most private place from everything. The hall was very
messy because there was one mattress right next to another. We could hide the cabbage we
stole from the gardens right next to our mattress. The years went by in the Pardubice prison.
Not only was it necessary to adapt our selves to the regime, but also to make our own little
private space. When I am thinking about it now, there was less then one square meter per
person. There were 12 double-beds in each cell, it was a very small space, but we did not get
on each other’s nerves. We used to exchange things, for example I got a little stool, which was
like a treasure to me. I also got a little wash-bowl which was thrown out during each search,
but I always found it and brought it back. Each of us had our little hiding place, our little secret,
our life. Each of us had to somehow escape from reality in our own way. We had to learn to live
a double life, to make our plans and dreams.
What were you thinking about?
I was thinking about my future life. I planned a family and was also thinking about things that
happened. In my imagination I walked on trips, travelled, and remembered my life. I would say
that a prisoner lives again the life he has already lived. You remember everything from childhood,
you remember people who were important to you. It is not that you would judge your
life because you cannot change anything, but in prison you appreciate the fact that you were
able to live your life and enjoy it. I regard that as a beginning of humbleness towards life and
towards higher values like family and friendship. I survived in prison thanks to remembering
my life, but without getting stuck in the past. You can’t do that, you must have your daily routine
and daily life. There were different events happening around us, we had visitors, letters,
and each of us lived our lives inside. There were things happening in our homes, for example
a big loss or pain in our family and we were not able to help, to go to a funeral or visit our ill
relatives, so we comforted each other and made ourselves happy. That helped a lot.
Did this mutuality work only among political prisoners or also among criminal and political
ones?
There were only a few criminal prisoners among us. Time to time they moved and mixed us,
so there also appeared murderers among us. I shared a quarter with one Slovakian murderer,
or there was a small illiterate gypsy in our cell and she was allowed to have a child’s reader, it
was a big thing. We did not even have papers or pens. I would say that there was big solidarity
among us, the state prisoners. The criminal prisoners tried to assimilate. I did not experience
that, but the women who were not granted amnesty in 1960 and stayed longer became a minority
and I can tell you they went through hell.
I lived together with a murderer who adapted herself in all the ways. When any of us had
visitors and brought something back to the cell she would divide it into parts and put one part
5 Semtín – a town close to the prison where was a factory.
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