Jaroslav Kočí

“On 31 March 1981 I was stood on trial in Šumperk, where I was accused of promoting Fascism. The accusation was based on the claim that the album only showed the victorious German army. For this crime, which I resolutely refused and continued to defend myself against by what I had said before, I was sentenced to eight month of prison, suspended for two years. Although the court did not ban me from continuing my work, I was subsequently fired anyway. I tried to find a new job but failed. In the end I was in such dire straits that I wanted to try working at the Šumperk crematorium, burning dead bodies.”

“After the house search, [two police officers - ed.] took me for questioning, and they interrogated me until the evening. It was all related to the Pioneers in Olomouc District event. To how I had shown them the album [of photographs of the victorious German army having a friendly time with the Soviet army - ed.]. They kept claiming that showing photographs of the German army is basically considered the promotion of Fascism because the photographs only show the victorious German army. And I said: ‘But friends,’ I didn’t actually call them friends, ‘you’re mistaken! It may be the victorious German army, but not as some kind of propaganda. The reason it’s there is that my father, who made the album, left the army in March 1941, at a time when the Nazis were winning everywhere!’”

“It was a political event. Always some two days before the event, a group of political officials from the district house. They checked if things were prepared. The even itself was done with easily, they took some children from the Olomouc District, split them in groups, and the ones from Ramzová they sent to Šerák, where they were given tea and sausages. There were some militiamen at Šerák who discussed with them. Simply, combat tradition, what else to say. Then the children went back to Ramzová, they got in the train and returned home. And as I said, it was organised by the district house of pioneers and youth. It was a political event. I had my father’s Wehrmacht photo album with me at Šerák. Between you and me, I was a bit provocative. I was no dissident. But when I had the chance, I would have a dig. And the evening before this event, the group was sitting here. Seeing that it was low season and there was no one in the pub, and I told them to come into the kitchen, where the heating was on. We sat at the table, chatted, drank wine, spirits, and beer. Suddenly the conversation turned to World War II. They started saying the stuff they had been told in history and at political trainings. I said what were they blabbering about. Up to the moment when Hitler attacked them, in nineteen-forty-one, the Russians were just as bad as him. Oh boy, I shouldn’t have done that. They told me I’m talking nonsense, that it’s not true. I said that in September thirty-nine, the Germans split Poland up with Russia. They said it wasn’t true. ‘It’s not true? I’ll show you something.’ I went, pulled the album out, and the three photographs that my father had taken at the River Bug. And they saw that there really were German and Russian soldiers there, hugging and shaking hands. I said: ‘Those are enemies? They were still friends at the time. Until forty-one.’ They stared, I began leafing through the album. They saw photos from Poland, Belgium, and France. I sensed a sudden gust of cold, and I quickly closed the album and tidied it away. The event ended.”

“When I was rehabilitated in 1994, I made a copy of the rehabilitation verdict. Seeing that I could look into the files back then, and I knew the names and addresses of the people who informed on me, I sent it to all of them. I added a note to the bottom, suggesting they might want to apologise to me after reading this. There were four or five of them, who testified against me at court, including the jury chairman, Doctor Michálek. And only one of them sent me a letter, where he tried to apologise and claimed that they had been forced to do so in some way.”

“I was given eight months for two years. Although the court hadn’t prohibited me from my work, they still fired me from my employment. I found myself in a situation where I was not able to find a job. Everyone here knew what I was punished for. In fact, it got so bad that I was getting ready to go burn dead bodies in the crematorium. No one wanted to employ me. Everyone was afraid of me, or they had some secret information and instructions to break Kočí.”