Frode Bakken

“Of course there was always a police car standing outside and I was told by Janouch that this is, what it is. You just walk in and they can’t threaten you because you are a Norwegian citizen, so there are no problems for you. I knocked on the door and Jiří Hájek opened. You know, he learned Norwegian during second world war when he was in prison in the Hamburg area and where they were working during night, he together with Norwegian citizens. He was a language expert so he talked with me. He had never been in Norway. But he talked with me in Norwegian. It was not perfect but it was absolutely possible to understand. And it was then that he said that he has this big problem with education of Jan Hájek. I just also said hello to Jan in the room but then he left. Jiří Hájek said that when Jan should go to gymnasium, he was refused a place, even if he was a very clever student. Then he was invited by Kreisky to Vienna and then, after that invitation, he was allowed into the gymnasium in Prague. But then they had already got messages or hints that he would not get into the university, Jan, if his father was to continue in the Charta 77 movement.”

“During these years we asked private persons to give every month money, we asked companies to give money, also municipalities, for example Oslo. The municipality of Oslo gave 20.000 Norwegian crowns, which could be over 4.000 euro, 5.000 euro. During these years, we collected and send to the people from Charta 77 233.000 Norwegian crowns, which would be today the volume of 50.000 euro. So we managed to collect some money and we also did a lot of work towards the press, Konůpek did and excellent job. He had a lot of contacts and developed other contacts. And he had his contacts in the Charta 77 movement in Prague, so we covered a lot of Norwegian press with articles, discussions, etc. That was another very important thing. And we had an exhibition of prohibited books which was at the university library in Oslo. And then, at the 10th anniversary of Charta 77 in 1987, January, we had a big concert at the national theatre with foreign minister talking, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee in parliament talking , Janouch talking, our new leader Torkel Opsahl, famous professor of law, made speeches. The audience was absolutely full, 700 people or so. And very much good press. It showed in a way that the Norwegian public was supporting Charta 77and democratic movement in Czechoslovakia very well.”