Igor Kyselka

"I remember that we were already living in an apartment on Tomešová [street in Brno], it was not yet furnished, and my father woke me up and said: 'Russians are here, Russians are here.' I thought to myself, what Russians, what is going on. We then looked out of the window that led to Špilberk [Špilberk Castle in Brno]. The sun was just coming up and I know that suddenly there was a rumble and a number of airplanes were flying here and dad was talking again about the Russians being here. From Údolní [street in Brno] there were tanks and armored personnel carriers going up to Augustin [Church of St. Augustin in Brno]. I quite liked it, I wasn't afraid, on the contrary I found it attractive. All I know is that I was wondering why all those Russians were wearing tall boots when it was summer. And I also know that dad said that people were talking about the fact that a Russian pulled out a machine gun on Moravské náměstí and shot into the air and everyone immediately ran away. And then there were detours everywhere, you couldn't go anywhere, there was a very complicated transportation in Brno."

"My father criticized the regime well and in a qualified way. Both the political and the economic system, which was built on incompetence and favoritism. Never mind what people say, the change of the regime [in 1989] was incomparable, despite the problems with privatization and everything possible. It's just that [under the communists] a lot of people lived on just that, and that was already under the Germans, they reported. Today, no one cares what anyone thinks regarding politics. Fortunately, this has simply ended. For example, I myself was also afraid to have any books at home at that time. Even my father, when he went home and saw a black car parked near the house with someone sitting in it, he was afraid, because that's how it really was happening, that people were being watched. The spying and reporting was terrible and we were really brought up in the environment that we can't say anything, that everything was reported. That jokes can be abused and that everything can be twisted and turned against another person just because someone is striving for some position or settling scores with someone."