Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...

mean the whole team would stay abroad, playing under the name of the Czechoslovakian national
team-in-exile. We would play in Europe, in England, and we would advertise the image
of this team. At first, Mr. Zábrodský promised everything. Then they didn’t give him double the
money as they had promised, for each player, and so he refused the whole thing. There was
even a vote, where 8 of the players were for returning and 6 for staying. In that moment, in
Switzerland brother Zábrodský and doctor Fáma, who was a lawyer, stayed. He was then 26 or
maybe 28 years old, but knew well he couldn’t come back to the country. They were spokesmen
for this organization and that was why they knew there was no return for them. We went back
and that was the beginning of everything.
Did the persecussions start soon after returning to Prague?
Not yet, in 1949 we became world champions in Sweden. All of a sudden we beat Canada
3-2! That was the first victory for Czechoslovakia against Canada. The score was 3-2 if I remember
well, Konopásek scored the first, I scored the second, and the third was Roziňák, I think.
All in all we won 3-2, which dethroned Canada. When we came back, the government was
welcoming us at the train station in Prague. There was the Prime Minister Zápotocký, and other
Ministers. They greeted and congratulated us in a private government saloon in the railway
building. The train station was full of people.
In 1950 they didn’t let us go to the next world championship in Great Britain though. They
wanted us to proclaim that we would forego participation because Czechoslovakian reporters
didn’t get visas to travel with the representation. In the meantime, my sister who worked at
one state office here in Prague, got in touch with friends from the British information service
and photocopied the problematic visas. The visas were available, all the reporters had to
do was pick them up on Saturday, but they never came.
So we all got together immediately at “U Herclíků.“ That was a little pub by the National
Theater in Prague and the owner was a brother of a Sparta player, Zdeněk Ujčík. It was a pub
where we, civilians and soldiers, were getting together. We drank and ate well there. I remember,
we dropped the things from the airport at home and by 5 p.m. we started to get together.
Inside there were already some people, there was a bagpiper who also played the harmonica.
There we always sang, various songs about sport or about Prague. Memories, you know. When
merry-making was at its peak, when it was revealed why we didn’t fly to the championship,
we all were pretty courageous. I can sincerely admit we swore a lot, from time to time, we
also ran out into the little square and yelled out, “Death to Communists!” and “We will not
let you cut our wings, we will reveal the truth!” In that moment we heard from a radio how
a reporter Edmund Koukal said, why hockey players didn’t leave for the championship. He
said exactly what he was told to say. Hockey players had foregone participation because the
reporters didn’t get visas. So we called Mr. Lauf immediately, saying, “Come here, we will tell
you the truth.” No, they didn’t come. We called Koukal right after the commentary to come to
us and he answered, “Guys, I will not come.” When merry-making was at its peak and we were
already very drunk, we started to sing some songs on the ex-football player Vlasta Kopecký. It
was a Slavia song. Instead of Vlasta Kopecký we sang Venca (Czech name Václav) Kopecký, who
was a Minister of Schools and Sports. When that hit its climax, I was walking by with Roziňák
and suddenly two men got up from one of the tables and caught us. They told us we would
go with them.
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