Martin Konečný

* 1964

  • „Hanka [Synková], moje matka, se narodila v roce 1938, těsně před začátkem války. Svého otce vůbec nepoznala, protože Otto byl jmenovaný vedoucím tajemníkem ilegálního výboru strany a vedl komunistický odboj. Velice brzo byl zatčený a jak říkám, matka ho nikdy nepoznala, neměla na něj žádnou osobní vzpomínku. Otto byl popravený v roce 1941 po heydrichiádě. Respektive existují doklady o jeho popravě, ale ta rodinná historie traduje, že byl spíš umučený u výslechu. Takže na jednu stranu hrdina, na druhou stranu zapálený komunista. Vždycky jsem k němu měl takový ambivalentní vztah přes matku. Na jednu stranu jsem ho obdivoval jako hrdinu, na druhou stranu jsem se za něj styděl. Když matka zemřela, tak jsem všechna vyznamenání, která Otto dostal posmrtně, tak jsem vyházel do popelnice. Styděl jsem se za ně. Otto byl nositelem toho nejvyššího vyznamenání Řád bílého lva, jenomže byl udělený in memoriam Klementem Gottwaldem. Já jsem se za to tak strašně styděl a to vyznamenání mi přišlo, že je zalité krví, ale nejen Ottovou, ale i komunistických obětí.“

  • “My former wife, the mother of my eldest daughter, had an opinion back then, that ´being a hero is not a wise choice´. So she warned me not to join any marches, but go home and learn. And I misbehaved and I knew principally that I had to go, as in certain respects I was naughty, and in this case it was a matter of principle and personal belief. When we walked with Zuzana Brabcová, back then she was an unknown writer, further to Albertov down the Vyšehrad, we felt something was wrong. I remember walking along the riverside, I was thinking that smelt through the pier, and someone in the front was dancing with the national flag and crying out. I was thinking, we were going somewhere not knowing where at all. That was not agreed ahead. I was trying to stay in front and talk to the people asking where and why we were going, and what were we actually doing. But no one wanted to communicate. And there was Zifčák, who was directing it all toward the National Avenue; he was a provoker and we had no clue about that. There were so many people in the crowd, people were running out of their houses and joining it spontaneously so it was rather massive. There were not only students, many people joined too, and it all shrinked together at the National. People just ran away. Same as my friend Zuzana did, who said: ‚I am scared, so I just go home‘ and ran. She was really quite sensitive and extremely intuitive being, and also wrote many lovely books then; sadly she died last year. So there were a lot less people in the National Avenue, that was clear something was happening and the police was there too and I still kept in the front. When Zuzana left I thought I would stay on contrary, and still in the first or second line. Later I met Hanka Marvanová, a couple of years ago we agreed we were actually here together, right in front of the secret police. Of course we were afraid, singing, crying out and waiting for something to happen. And then the order to strike came and that was really important for me, as I felt something strange and mystical. I kind of knew I had to stay, where I was. Despite the risk, not knowing how it all ends up. I understood it so that they could massacre us and it was important to do that, I felt internally connected to Rozálie, my daughter and kept thinking: I need to remain so that she can live in a free world in future. And so I stayed. When they began to beat us, I kneeled on the ground and prayed. I did not back off, just stayed where I was, and they were trying to get me with their nightsticks and someone took me from behind dragging me away from the police cordon. And right that moment, when I just stayed there kneeling and praying, that was an authentic mystic experience. It is hard to describe. There is something of my grandfather in me I guess, something like giving in as he did, but really he faced death. That was the key moment of the whole revolution for me.“

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I was lucky to meet great teachers and a life role models

Martin Konečný, pol. 90. let
Martin Konečný, pol. 90. let
zdroj: archiv pamětníka

Martin Konečný was born on 26 June, 1964 in Pilsen. Both his parents were connected to the J. K. Tyl theatre; the mother was a dramaturge and his father an actor. When he was five years old, his mother left with him and two years younger sister to Prague, where she worked in the theatre Za branou. During studies at the Štěpánská gymnasium the witness converted and got baptised. Following graduation he studied in Litoměřice seminar, but was disgusted with former circumstances so much he preliminarily finished the studies. Despite problems he got to study medicine in 1986, and began actively interested in politics. Already during university studies he got married for the first time. He participated in November students´march from Albertov to the National Avenue. After suffering a shock from the police engagement he recovered fast and on the second day he activated resistance along with his colleague students with maximum efforts. In 1992 he graduated and started working in oncology department in his native Pilsen. He disliked a mechanical approach towards oncology patients and later decided to move to psychiatry. In 2007 he won a position of a primary at the Psychiatric hospital Ostrov. He enjoyed working there but encountered numerous issues on part of the hospital management and his colleagues, so finally left Ostrov too. After a while he got a job at a regional hospital in Příbram, where he has worked until now.