Mgr. Josef Kavka

* 1930

  • "'Labour-political evaluation of Comrade Josef Kavka, born on February 4, 1930. Josef Kavka worked in the national enterprise Průmstav Pardubice as a company psychologist. Before 1968, it was clear from some of his indications and actions that he did not like the members of the party, from whom he distanced himself, and his opinion of the Communist Party was not favorable either. He completely ignored the workers' cadres.' I don't know anything about that, but that's how it was written. I should also add that this message came in 1973, following the party line to the one in Příbrami, and the personnel officer, he then submitted a request through the company line back to the Průmstav Pardubice and they then sent this to me. 'In 1968, however, his negative attitude towards the Communist Party, whose leading role in our society he did not recognize, became fully apparent. He clearly compared the deformations of the fifties to the bestiality of German fascism. He was a supporter of unlimited democracy and freedom. He also supported the principles of bourgeois democracy for the leadership of the state. From the above-mentioned attitudes also arose a negative attitude towards the Soviet Union, especially regarding the period of the 1950s and its deformations. At that time, he very favorably received the philosophical and political views of Ivan Sviták, which he also promoted. In April 1968, that is, at the time of the Prague Spring, he spoke at a member's meeting of the ROH, where he clearly, biased and ironically said that the leading role of the party in the state had no justification, that the leading force in the state was and must be the intelligentsia, and not the working class. He proved his 'theory' on the fate of the Paris Commune, its destruction and the introduction of order. He developed these views until August 1968. Today, August 21, 1968, at the corporate headquarters, he was one of the organizers of his own production and pasting of posters insulting the Soviet Union and the hanging of the black flag on the headquarters building.'"

  • "The so-called national guests, which were German families with all their possessions loaded up on wagons pulled by one or two pairs of oxen or horses, came to Kounov from Šedivin. Well, there was also a Lanz Bulldog tractor with them, a single cylinder, I remember it as a rarity. There were about twelve covered wagons, I estimate. They were originally from somewhere in the eastern regions, now I don't know if it was from the region of Silesia, or even from the region of Královce, Königsberg, Germany. But the important thing was that they fled from the Red Army to the west and were accommodated for about five days in Rozkoš, in a pub. It is no longer there as a water took her away. Nevertheless, the protectorate authorities had the task of taking care of these people. This means that the mayor of the village of Kounov was ordered to have several wheelbarrows of straw delivered to the hall in that pub. And those families lived there, about 12 or 15 families. Another duty was that the landlady had to arrange cooking for them all; and secondly, the water was boiled so that everyone, the whole family, could bathe, do their laundry, and so on."

  • "1948. I experienced that in Broumov. I remember that sometime in 1948, in February, sometime around February 28, all the employees of the Broumov factories, that means that mainly the textile workers were there, but not only this, but all the others came organized in crowds, in a procession to the main square Broumov. The shops were closed and other employees were also supposed to come to that square and they did. Well, what did it look like? Mainly officials of the KSČ and ROH spoke there, and especially, and I remember that, also Comrade Pytlík from the regional committee of the KSČ from Hradec Králové. And again, everyone spoke in the sense that they supported the so-called Victory February in our republic and then everyone, or the staff from those races, all shouted hurray and glory. I was there too, but I was like the others, from that small business, so I was on the sidewalk. Those people on the sidewalks, they were mostly silent and looked either sullenly or carefully, while the majority who were grouped in that area of the square were all shouting in agreement with the politics in Prague."

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Lhota Netřeba, 22.02.2023

    (audio)
    délka: 53:34
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu The Stories of Our Neigbours
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

He was fired from his job because of a personnel report

As a soldier in 1950
As a soldier in 1950
zdroj: Archiv pamětníka

Josef Kavka was born on February 4, 1935 in Kounov. At the end of World War II, he witnessed the retreat of German troops and residents through our territory. He learned business manuals. He and his parents moved to Broumov after the war. Here he also watched the communist coup in February 1948. During his stay in the army, he decided to start studying. He studied philosophy and psychology by distance learning, then also got a single major degree in psychology. For many years he made a living as a business psychologist. After 1989 he traveled a lot. In 2023, he lived in Podbřezí.