Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...

How was it when you returned home?
I came to Teplice early in the morning. My mother worked in a hotel Thermia. I asked one
dispatcher to call the hotel and asked if my mother was at work. He called there and found
out that she was there. I walked through Teplice, it is a hilly town and as I walked up Leninova
Street I had problems catching my breath. I got all my courage and entered the hotel. My
mother took a day off and went home with me. My father was not at home, but my grandmother
gave me a warm welcome.
When were your father and fiancé released?
My father was released in 1955 and my fiancé was granted amnesty in 1960. I never believed
in that amnesty. Some prisoners were kept alive thanks to the vision of amnesty, but I never
hoped for it, even though I was such an optimist.
How was it, to come back to normal civilian life?
Coming back to civilian life was very difficult even though I had a good family background. It
was a bit easier thanks to my mother who told me to stay at home for some time. I got a new
identification card and I did not go out of the house. It was not easy at all to join society again.
Nobody would believe me, but I can tell you that I missed the prison, I mean, the people there,
because there was that support and guarantee. I did not know what to talk about with other
people. I think that the way of thinking of the prisoner cannot be changed from day to day.
You cannot suddenly think and talk about normal things. Many times I remembered the words
of my co-prisoner Žofie Slováčková. She used to say, “Do you know what I would like? When
we are all released I would like us to live in big villages or small towns all together, all the prisoners
together.” She was right, it probably would not work that way, but living somewhere
with each other would have been good. It would have been lovely to live in mutual help and
friendship.
When you look back to the time in the prison, could you tell me what it gave to you?
It gave me confidence and from the political view it gave me the anti-communist view. I will
never ever support their party. I cannot understand that some young people support them and
their program. I know that they lie.
Have you ever forgiven the Communists for all the injustice they did to you?
Once I had a lecture in the hall of a grammar school in Northern Bohemia together with
Archbishop Karel Otčenášek. I let him start and he started as a true Christian with speech about
forgiving. I knew that he had experienced a very hard time in prison. Then it was my turn to
talk and the first thing I said was that I felt like a rebel standing there next to him. I told the
students that nobody ever said sorry to me. The archbishop said that we should forgive, but
should not forget. Those are very important things. Personally I have never forgiven them because
they stole a big part of my life. I had my plans and ideas and I lost them and they can’t
be taken back. I wanted to live a free life, travel, and do things to make myself happy. They
spoilt it.
Thank you very much for this interview.
Czechoslovak Political Prisoners 95