Stanislav Kubín

* 1943

  • "The airport was surrounded by tanks, but they didn't even dare to approach the gate. It lasted until the first agreements were made here. It was interesting, that there was a line from Lysá nad Labem to Milovice. Above the line there were Poles, Polish troops, and down below the line between the barracks and the line there were Soviets. And at night you couldn't drive through there because there was a firefight night after night. Of course, it was blamed on intruders. My feeling was that the Poles were settling their scores with them. This went on until the order came to move. In September our unit was moved to Brno, where we were for a little over a year, and then we were moved to Přerov. The atmosphere there was very tense. We tried to make it as unpleasant as possible for those Soviet guys. There was a ban on flying, and when a plane went for a regular inspection, the armoured carriers would come out with guns pointed at it to make sure we wouldn't even think of getting away. There was also a clash of characters. And the interesting thing was that the biggest loudmouths who were with the unit were turning around so very quickly. They understood that if they kept their previously proclaimed convictions, they probably wouldn't serve long. The vetting that followed confirmed that. Many of those loudmouths then sat on vetting committees."

  • "I have a vivid memory of 21 August 1968. I was on leave that day and was awakened in the night by the noise of tanks, which was not that unusual because it was happening every now and then. The tanks would come out from Milovice, where the garrison was, the artillerymen and so on, for some exercises. I was annoyed they were making noise again. I looked at my watch, turned on the radio, and of course there was a report of what was going on. Even though I was on leave, it was a state of emergency. I took my uniform and my personal weapon. I got on my motorcycle and rode to the airport. There were already tanks around the airport, there were tankers lined up on the runway of the airport, cars and other vehicles. When the night flying was over and all the planes were slowly rolling back into the hangars, the tower radar reported that some targets were approaching. Then someone said it was on the radio. It was more or less spontaneous, and before anyone could land, except for a couple of Soviet helicopters, the runway was blocked and no one could land there anymore. The airfield was blocked from Soviet aircraft to land."

  • "Our anti-aircraft twins came out to face those tanks. When the tank moved forward, the guys would lower the barrel and aim at it. But we didn't have a single cartridge because we were cut off from the ammunition depot. But the tank backed up every time. We later learned that at least where we were serving, there was strict order not to engage with our army. This was happening also at other places. I know that if there was, for example, a garrison closure or the Russians were driven out of the area, they would back off. They went to suppress the counterrevolution and now imagine if they got into a regular clash with army. Putin wasn't there yet, he probably wouldn't have cared. So the resistance was there. I know that, for example, on the western military circuit, it cost General Procházka his job. He just ordered his tanks into battle positions. Also, the Russians stood on the former demarcation line for a long time."

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Liberec, 05.07.2022

    (audio)
    délka: 01:45:22
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of 20th Century
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

We blocked the runway from Soviets to land

As a Staff Sergeant in 1968
As a Staff Sergeant in 1968
zdroj: Archiv pamětníka

Stanislav Kubín was born on 6 May 1943 and spent his childhood in Velim. After finishing primary school, he considered studying journalism, but this was not possible because of his father‘s political views. Instead, he went to an apprenticeship in Brno, where he became an expert in electrical railway signalling systems. In 1962, he entered basic military service with the 22nd Airfield Battalion, and upon completion he transferred to active military service. In January 1965, he went to the Soviet Union for a three-month internship, where he was trained as a trainer for MiG-21 and Su-7BM aircraft. He was on leave at the time of the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops on 21 August 1968. But as soon as he learned what was happening, he rushed to the airport. In the meantime, the airport staff blocked the runway to prevent Soviet aircraft from landing there. Because he refused to sign a consent form regarding the invading troops, he was advised not to ask for an extension of his service. After leaving the army, he had difficulty finding long-term employment and changed a number of posts. In 1972, Stanislav Kubín was in a serious car accident, after which he was bedridden for a long time. At that time he started reading books by Miroslav Horníček, with whom he began to maintain written and later personal contact. It was Miroslav Horníček who talked him into hosting a talkshow called Host na faře (Guest in the Parish house) in August 1987. In the autumn of 1989, Stanislav Kubín was active in the revivalist current of the Czechoslovak People‘s Party, and after the Velvet Revolution he participated in a number of interviews and debates. After the fall of the communist regime, he devoted himself until 2013 to his shows, which were attended by more than 200 outstanding personalities from the fields of culture, art, science and sport. He himself was active in literature and poetry and wrote six collections of poetry and more than two hundred essays. In 2022 he lived in Liberec.