Petr Holub

"I knew some of the people at the top. I wasn't dazzled by them in any way. Rather, I appreciated that they knew Jan Patočka and were able to mediate their experience with him. But somehow, I wasn't drawn to it. To tell the truth, Czech dissent was terribly weak. They really didn't accomplish anything. Now, I'm leaving aside the activities of Václav Havel, which were extremely successful in the end. But they couldn't change everyday life, let alone the social structure. They lived on the edge. Their social activity was more or less shadowy. After the fall of the regime, it was very fortunate that someone was able to take power at all, when the communists resigned. But until then, dissent had no direct influence on what was happening within the society."

"It happened that I was both a member of the underground and an active member of the church. The scales gradually shifted towards the church. It also came down to the fact that there were more interesting people in the church. The young Catholics in Prague had a romantic relationship with the church and God. The unequivocal authority was Pope John Paul II. Even as Cardinal of Krakow, he was already very popular among young Catholics. When he was elected Pope, it was seen as the beginning of new and better times. Someone who had the same clear attitude towards communist regimes as we had became Pope."

"It's been about ten years since I met a guy from our former underground crew. From him, I learned that most of those people are either dead or outright criminals. Like, they got run over by a train while walking home drunk from a party. One became a kleptomaniac who never got out of prison. Although this one came from a better family. So surviving the underground wasn't a given. Especially since there was constant pressure from society to dispel and deny it. Which, on the contrary, led to one becoming even more committed to the underground."