“The worst thing about being interrogated was that I could hear woman´s cry from the next room. I was convinced that they were torturing my mum there. I said to myself that it was not possible but they indicated that if I did not talk, something could happen to my parents. I believed that it was possible at the beginning. But then I said to myself that it was not possible, it could not be, for them to take her there and what for? However, after it, when I was in Jáchymov, the old jailbirds instructed me in what you could expect and what tricks they could play to break someone.”
“There were Royal Air Force pilots, various priests. So, it gave us more than university. I like to remember this, the other things not, of course. Otherwise, I think that it was extensive life experience for us. Great experience. That we do not get upset easily.”
„When a tram passed by, you could see into the production hall (Avia Vysočany – editor´s note, that they were building a new airplane. But that was handy. I was a rebel, culak and I don´t know what else, I suddenly worked with Russians on the MIGs. I didn´t last long. I had a small room rented as a student in Prague-Prosek. The doors opened and two men came in with a revolver. They said: ‚Pack your stuff, creep, you´re going with us.‘ Since then I haven´t seen anything else for nine years.“
„Once we walked through the old galleries, I carried reels in Rovnosti and Bratrství and so on. And suddenly I saw secret police coming towards me. They also had them (flashlights on their helmets – editor´s note). I said to myself: ‚I am curious what´s in this.‘ I marched towards them in and said: ‚Zdravstvujtě, tovarišči, vy kuda?‘ And they replied: ‚Vy russkij?‘ I said: ‚Nu, vot, što? A vy kak?‘ And they: ‚No, my těper – jdem tady podívat, kak ty naši tě...‘ They tried to say ´prisoners´ and said ´ťurmiki´ instead. I heard them, commended, asked them where they´re going. They said over there so I went to the other side. In a moment I was there and went up the pit. See I was only twenty-one and had a good time this way.“
„We carried (from the pit – editor´s note) home (to lager Rovnost – editor´s note) wood so that we could have a little fire. Screws always stopped us (at the gate) and made what we called a ´filcunk´. They searched us if we carry anything. And took our wood away too. So we agreed down in a pit that we make it more pleasant for them. We dug little holes in wooden blocks, stole some detonators and put them in there with a glue. After the search, they used our wood to burn it. We were just waiting in barracks to hear the explosion. And of course, suddenly a big bang came...“
Václav Hrůza was born on 5 February, 1931 in Líšnice near Milevsko, where his family owned the largest farm. He studied an academy of commerce in Prague specialised in international relations and foreign trade. In 1950 he graduated and found a job in a foreign trade company Hop Malt (translates as: hobs and malt), where he was successful and even got an offer to work abroad. But when he refused to join the communist party, instead of promotion he was moved to a factory Avia Vysočany in the framework of the „Action 77“ („voluntary“ leave of 77 000 officers into production). At the time the factory produced Russian airplanes MiG, and as a witness had an excellent command of Russian and English, he translated technical documentation for airplanes and interpreted to Russian experts. On 24 May, 1952 Václav Hrůza was arrested by the state security and sentenced to fifteen years in prison for high treason and espionage. He was in lagers Nikolaj and Rovnost in Jáchymov region. In 1957 after an unsuccessful attempt for escape he got a new trial. The court revisited the original judgment and Václav Hrůza was sentenced to three years in prison. As he already served over five years, he was immediately released from prison. After the basic military service he started as a land betterment worker. Later he worked as a clerk in the department of work and wages in spa Karlova Studánka and a leader of export department in a press factory of new materials in Vrbno pod Pradědem. Since 1979 he was employed by the state company Intergeo Praha, and in 1982-1989 was sent to Mongolia in a position of a geological area leader. After the Velvet revolution the witness worker as an embassy commercial counsellor in Mongolia.
