Václav Jílek

* 1949

  • "It just happened that right before the haymaking, someone just stole it from us when we were in the field, or our parents were in the field, so someone stole our harvester. My father had to deal with it somehow. So, before he found out where it was, of course, comrades from the state farm, which was next door and had a branch in Stašov, Pomezí, took it. Well, I remember that one night my father with my uncle, when he found out where it is, they ... they offered a harvester to us, which was devastated. So, the basic things, when my father and uncle found out what the defects were and where our harvester was... I know I was very scared at the time ... they decided to go to the place at night, to put the defective things back in our harvester and to transfer the good things back to the harvester which was at our house."

  • "Well, then of course we figured out who it was, because when we were in Germany, he bought a German newspaper, when we were in France, he bought a French newspaper. He always pulled out when there was a bigger city, he pulled out a printed map of all the cities, nobody else had anything like that… And then, a stupid wife sat next to him. When she opened her mouth, it was really something. But it was only confirmed in Barcelona, when we went around there, in front of the Ramblas there is such a big roundabout and there is Columbus on that pillar. Well, we didn't catch up, and he wanted to stop there with the bus so we could get off the Ramblas and walk there. And he would come there, and so on ... but then a guy on the other side of the roundabout was waving terribly at us and showing us where to go. He saw a Czech bus, well. So, we stopped there, where he was showing us, and at that moment this guy stood at the door and so stood the man who was waving at us, greeting us that he was also Czech, and probably wanted to talk with some people. And this other guy was there the whole time until the man left, he was standing there waiting if anyone would talk to him. Of course, he also had to report. So, when I saw it, I said to my wife, "Dana, it's nice, but this is nothing for us." So, we let it be and it really paid off, because then it was just getting worse, then the spying reached the top, in Switzerland, where apparently... When a man went to buy a new movie or... so... people followed him. Or when someone ... somewhere ... outside the group, yeah, they needed to know what contacts they had there, it was already very close and there were probably a lot of people in Switzerland who worked there. I think he left it there on those ones, who were already stable there."

  • "It was each quarter of a year that my grandmother, I remember, she always sent a package to my grandfather when... for exemplary behavior. And once every six months, she was allowed to visit him due to exemplary behavior. However, of course, it was quite a distance "Yeah, and she was already quite old, too, so I know that I've accompanied her several times, at least three times. For one thing my grandfather wanted to see me, and for another I was in charge of the contact across the bench, sometimes there was a shield between us, so it had to be done differently. Well, I was smuggling ground coffee, chocolate. I guess I was one of those grandsons and grandchildren who was the best for it. Well, then I had the honor when my grandfather was set free, he had a car for a short time then, that was in 1961, it was in the summer. And when they arrested him, he was wearing a winter coat and galoshes, so we brought him a suit. And grandpa, since he was from the region there, said: 'It's not that far, let´s go to see the Štefánik monument.'"

  • Celé nahrávky
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    Polička, 29.09.2020

    (audio)
    délka: 03:24:37
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Příběhy regionu - HRK REG ED
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

The family resisted collectivization for ten years. The communists took their fields, machines and horses, and imprisoned their grandfather

High school graduation portrait of Václav Jílek, 1968
High school graduation portrait of Václav Jílek, 1968
zdroj: Provided by the witness

Václav Jílek comes from a family of private farmers and animal breeders from Kamenec u Poličky. He was born on July 19, 1949. At that time, his parents were bullied because they did not want to join the collective farm. His grandfather was accused of alleged sabotage and spent three years in Jáchymov. His uncle was also in prison. The parents resisted the pressure of the communists for about ten years. They joined the state co-operative farm in January 1959. Václav Jílek was not to study as the son of a kulak. Thanks to the excellent results and intervention of the teachers, he eventually got to the grammar school and then studied veterinary medicine. In November 1989, he was one of the founders of the Civic Forum in Polička. He was later a municipal politician for ODA (Civic Democratic Alliance). In 2020, he was retired and lived in Polička.