Aleš Lamr

“That was quite an interesting thing. As in the morning I would hear some noise. And I would wonder what was going on. So I went downstairs, to a reception in this house I had been living in, and they just told me that the Russians invaded us. I was shocked and I learned that there was a battle going on at the radio broadcast station. So I decided that I would go there. And on my way there I realised that I had no ID on me. So if they would shoot me, by chance, there would be no way to identify me. Such a strange idea it was, even I couldn't understand that. So I went to get my ID and I rushed all the way to the radio station. There I would be watching and shouting and waving with those little fists of mine. But it was just ugly. I was telling myself that if I wanted to get shot all I had to do was just to stay there, but in the end I would rather back off.”

“At one point, me and this friend of mine, we started to show our stuff at the Charles Bridge, so we could have some fun at least. At that time first people selling their art in the street started to show up. So we would show some things we did, we would even sell some of them, and by chance, there was just Jiří Padrta passing by, who was the editor of 'Výtvarná práce', an art journal, accompanied by Jan Ságl, a photographer. And they would ask us why we would show our stuff at that place, as they thought we should be there with all those people who were just making kitch. We told them we were doing this for fun, that there wasn't much more to it. But Padrta told me that I should join the Czechoslovak Union of Artists and invited me to come to visit him. So I showed up at the 'Výtvarná práce' editorial office, I filled a form and in two weeks there was this committee hearing taking place. And in that committee there was Michálek, my friend, Padrta, Lamač and some other painters. They took me in as an aspirant, so I could work freelance, and that was important. Under normal conditions I couldn't qualify for something like this, as just a secondary art school graduate. So I was quite happy that I managed to do this just before the 1968 invasion.”

“So I got to Prague, which was just great. I started absorbing the air in the city. There was 'Zbabělci' by Škvorecký, there were all those actors around me, singers and musicians – and I still meet them – like Jiří Stivín or all those people from the symphony orchestra. I grew up in a quite creative environment and politics was being discussed more and more often. We would read 'Literární noviny', 'Pramen', 'Světová Literatura', there were all those films and plays – so you would just let it all sink in, to get to most of it all. So thanks to the fact I was in Prague, right at the spring from which all those things were coming out, I had this tremendous opportunity to get the most of it all.”

“The first elections, that was the main thing. As we wanted so much that some decent, intelligent people would take control of the state. And as I was drinking with Václav Havel on one occasion, I told him that they didn't deal with the communists properly. They had to be much more strict and thorough. But there was Čalfa, who had helped Václav Havel make his first steps in politics, who had been hindering this process.”

“My friend wanted to celebrate her birthday at our cottage, as I was born on the same day as she was. And she would invite some friends and it turned out that those friends were Václav and Olga Havlová and several friends of theirs. So it was quite a surprise, but in the end it was just alright. Václav Havel was happy that they managed to outrun the Public Security, but they didn't outrun anyone, as there was a snitch in our party. After this quite wild party was over and they had all left, I told myself I was fed up with this kind of life, and me and my wife, we went in front of the house in the evening and we started to pray, so he would give us a sign that it was the right thing to become religious.”