František Hroník

“Back then I started getting into more trouble. Because I had also made several enthusiastic speeches in support of Dubček and the new leadership. There had even been an extraordinary meeting of the Communists of the whole military academy, where I had spoken harshly of the old leadership and in favour of Dubček. I remember the year ’68 very clearly, the arrival of the Soviets, because on 21 August they seized our barracks in Černé Pole as well. We came to work in the morning - we knew from the radio about what was going on. There were Russian guards at the gates, looking for Western soldiers. We told them there weren’t any Western soldiers here. You could really feel the resistance of the people to begin with, people were very open about the fact that they were occupants and that we just wanted to manage things ourselves. Then they started getting things under control - like that Palach, for instance, because although he caused a big stir, both here and around the world, it did nothing to change the course we were headed for. I’m not judging the fact that he changed nothing, his sacrifice was big and meaningful, but from a practical perspective, Czechoslovakia carried on towards Sovietisation, the rule of the Soviets.”

“It was all done according to regulations. They summoned those several of us who were to be discharged before a committee. And some kind of regulation stipulated that upon being discharged from the army, we were to be offered three civilian jobs. We had previously listed our qualifications. I wrote that I had university education and rich experience with interpreting from English, and besides that, that I had two state exams from Spanish. I was told that they did not have any work for me in those fields but that my career would best be served by the position of a manual labourer in the Ostrava steelworks. At the time I was prepared for the interpreting job because by Autumn 1970 it had become clear what would happen to me, because I had been placed ‘at the cadre disposal of the chief of the academy’ in 1969, which meant that I was redundant and that they were looking for some place to put me. So I said: ‘Dear comrades, no. I already decided that I will work as a freelance conference interpreter and technical translator.’ They all froze, and the representative from the Party’s city committee immediately retorted: ‘But that would mean you wouldn’t have a superior.’ I said: ‘No, no, I wouldn’t.’ Well, and the others calmed him down because they would be rid of me.”