PhDr. Marek Irgl

“Karel Kryl was not coming and when we wanted to leave after half an hour, a short man appeared out of nowhere. He went straight to us and said: ‘You are the young men from Czechia, aren´t you?' So, we said yes. ‘Come with me!’ He took us to the nearest restaurant, ordered us meal because we were hungry and it could be seen, and he ordered us a couple of beers. And after two hours he said: ‘Do you have somewhere to sleep?’ And we said: ‘Well, we don´t,’ we slept in the station in Munich then, ‘so we think...’ He said: ‘No, come to my place. We will solve the issues and you will come to me.’ So, he took us home and we spent a very pleasant evening there, he was sitting in front of the table almost till the morning and he spoke till dawn. I think that the moment he understood that we really... It was quite unbelievable that two students in 1985 managed to go abroad, to a foreign country and that they were not members of Union of Youth nor agents. And I think that he understood also because of the topics that we spoke about that we were such a miracle. And that is why he invited us home. He played dozens of songs, talked a lot, brought us food and drinks all night. And before we went to bed, slightly drunk yet - we had brought him plum brandy, he took out a liquor that he had from a farmer - he started to trade with us. He opened a wardrobe where he had his records and said: ‘Guys, it is, however, expensive, it costs twenty marks. So, choose what you want.’ So, we chose everything. Both of us chose five records that he, I think, had published by then. Well and he said: ‘OK, hundred marks, hundred marks.’ And he was looking at us and said: ‘And wait, wait.’ And he started to bring books, his own illustrated books, precious prints, magazine Svědectví (Testimony). And he said: ‘Choose here.’ And he gave about twenty books to both of us. And finally, he gave it to us, and he said: ‘You know what? Keep the money as well!’ We went to bed and he said: ‘I need to go to the radio early in the morning so just shut it here and bye.’ So, we woke up in the morning, had breakfast that he had prepared for us, shut the door and we felt as if it had not been truth. And if we had had doubts until then that it had been different so the visit to Kryl... Because Kryl was pictured as a national enemy at that time... As the biggest agitator. And instead, we met an extremely sensitive, fair person who was so frank and honest that you wanted to cry because of it. And also because of the fact that you could feel his sadness for Czechia.”

“When the demonstrations repeated every day, we read declarations, then the students who had either witnessed it or who brought documents, supporting leaflets, or who brought video of the intervention started to come. So, the programme was clear, and it was extended, and something was added every day. Well and then the town hall in Valašské Meziříčí, the town council, made a statement that was called ‘Statement on evens of the 20th to the 22nd November in the square in Valašské Meziříčí.’ It was a defamatory article, it might have had ten points and the usual staff was said there: ‘We want to work honestly, dishonest elements’ and so on... ‘Effort to disrupt society, we need to go back to decent life’ and so on. And I would say that it added fuel to the fire because people who came there knew that they had not been elements etc. They did not even mention the intervention on the 17th of November in the leaflet. So, in a way it helped us. And on Thursday there was, I would say, really a crowd of people and they could not ignore them even in the town hall. And we demanded to meet the town administration. And surprisingly enough they accepted it. And I want to remind you that it was before the general strike. It was highly uncertain time when nobody knew what would happen. There was a political commissar in the city. Since there were barracks in Valašské Meziříčí, there was a political commissar. A convinced, ardent communist, completely convinced as far as ideology is concerned. Later, he was a member of ODS (Civic Democratic Party). He walked around the square and shouted. He was walking in brown officer leather riding breeches as if he was a SS man and was shouting: ‘Every one of you will hang! Every one of you will hang!‘ He was such a fanatic. So, nothing was won.”