Vladimír Fulín

"It was an endless procession. The weather wasn't great. We walked from the Karolinum, then it went... I don't even know if we walked all the way because it was a big mass of people! A lot of factories, schools, people... I remember it was such an event that the whole nation, or at least those who were attending and the people of Prague standing on the sidewalks were so sympathetic at that moment. In addition, we weren't supposed to [take part] in the event, much less raise funds for the wreath. So then at that school it was just a matter of time - either we get kicked out or we hide somewhere."

"It was hard to believe what he was telling. As a boy I couldn't understand why he had confessed, but he told me that after a day and night of being interrogated standing up, being slapped and doused with water, you would sign anything just to get some peace and sleep. I have an experience as a boy when he came back after about nine years, after the amnesty, he made his first trip to us, to see his brother. I'll never forget that, sitting in the yard with my dad, and I'm off to the side, on these steps - maybe they didn't even know I was listening to them. He was recounting his experiences in Jáchymov. I couldn't understand that at all as a kid. So many of our people hurt him when they asked in retrospect how his wife was behaving. They wrote anonymous letters saying he didn't care about his family. She lost everything. They had three children who couldn't visit dad. For example, they came to Jáchymov once a year, a tough journey from Moravia, but since he had not met his quota the day before, they had to go back. The family lost everything, the children were not allowed to study. When he told me what he had experienced, I said to myself at the time that this must not be forgotten."