Vladimír Haber

"It was so strange. Suddenly a chess player who was supposed to go somewhere flew into the room: 'Boys, the Russians are here.' 'Get out, dude, we want to sleep.' Really. We saw planes arriving at Ruzyň, it was beautiful to see. We didn't know what was going on, it took about half a day. Suddenly they came to us to U Julisky street in cars that they apparently seized here. One was Fruits and Vegetables, soldiers were sitting there, and not our people. We knew right away that they were from Eastern countries, a bit slant-eyed. Then the tanks also arrived, they stayed there for maybe a fortnight. We had fun with them, they didn't even know where they were, that they were in Prague. It was not pleasant to have tanks under your windows. We were afraid to go out, we weren't even allowed to go anywhere. It was a strange feeling. There were brave people, I confess that I was not one of them, who ran around Prague and took down signs so that the occupiers could not find the name of which street, in order to confuse the occupiers. Especially athletes, they could run fast. They made it.”

"I joined the 12-year-old school in Plasy, but I quit after a year because we had problems. I played hockey in Pilsen, the connection between Pilsen and Plasy was bad and I couldn't get to training on time, it wasn't ideal and I sometimes left early from some lessons. Although I enjoyed them, I didn't participate, especially in PE, which was at the end of the day, I ran to get the bus to go to Pilsen for a training. I got a C from Behavior for unexcused classes, that was a big problem. We agreed that I would go to Pilsen to study. I trained to be a mechanic like my father, I got to where the big machine tools, lathes and milling machines were assembled. They were exported to Japan and the whole world. Because I was taught at home and was a little skilled, before the military service I got an offer that when I returned from the military service, I would get to work abroad. I think it would be fun to get to know something about the world. However, I got to Dukla Prague, I improved my handball skills and found out that I could also get outside the country with handball and that there could be some money from it. I decided to play handball, I returned to Pilsen, even though I had an offer from Dukla. I got into the national team, I really saw a lot of the world, I traveled a lot. I think my decision was good, I enjoyed what I did and still do to this day more than locksmithing. I could also do it, but I probably wouldn't be able to do it as well as I did in sports."