Karel Lednický

"After graduating in 1960, I applied to university to study electrical engineering, because I was attracted to this field. I passed the entrance exams, but after a while the message came: “Due to the great interest of the applicants, you are not accepted to study in Brno at the university.” Only after a while will one learn that the results of the entrance exams are not so crucial. Because a political view of the individual has always been much more important. I later learned that there was a point in the review commenting on the fact that we are a strongly religious family. At that time, that meant a stop for all further education."

"Parents saved money so that they could build their own family house. I know that the plans were already finished, my father had already agreed with the architect, the builder, and the plot had been bought. In the 1950s, all savings fell through during the currency reform. It was a blow then, for everyone who had any savings, they thought, as they say ´on the back wheels´. The savings that were in savings books, on so-called time deposits, were valued at a ratio of one to fifty. The cash that was at home was valued one to five, which was better. In short, the parents lost everything, they sold the plot and someone else took the plans."