Blanka Lisovská

“When I was 17 years old, the secret state police (StB) agents came to pick me up at school. It was in June and the director of the school, without knowing who these people actually were, let them take me away. She accompanied them to the classroom where I was sitting and they showed me their documents with color pictures which – at that time – were still very rare. But any real identification was impossible because when they present their IDs to you, they only hold it before your eyes for an instant so you barely manage to glance at it. They told me that they’d have to take me to the police station to testify. My first impression was influenced by the way the director was dressed. She was wearing a black gown because it was at the time of the state leaving exam. Thus I got afraid that my dad had died and they came to tell me. My dad worked in a workshop that was just a short walk away from our school in the Vítkovice ironworks. He was a heavy duty worker and it sometimes happened that people got crushed there by falling objects in work accidents. I was terribly frightened that something had happened to my father and that they came to tell me. Therefore it was a huge relief when I learned that it wasn’t because of my father. I felt so relieved. But then I had such a terrible feeling when we were leaving the school. Firstly, it was during the break so everybody was out the classroom and I was being led away by two men through the corridors. So I kind of felt like a criminal and felt ashamed for that. They took me to the locker room where I had to get dressed. Then we came out of the school and there was a big white Volga car waiting for us. One man was waiting outside and another one was the driver. So two men sat in the front and I was sitting in between the other two at the back. So these four guys took me away from school and they probably wanted to scare me so we drove through various sumps that contained depleted water from factories. Some of these ponds contained coal slurry, others heavy metals in huge ponds. All the trees in the area withered and dried. I was terribly afraid that they’d rape me and kill me. I had no idea who they were.”

“I remember that once we were on patrol at night and we were making up silly things. An unforgettable moment for me is how we had that big kabanos which somehow got bad on the outside. The camp chief came and said that it was a pity to throw that kabanos away. So we took some brushes and scrubbed it for so long that it was good again. Then we made some goulash from it and we fried it. I don’t even remember what we did with it. Maybe we roasted it. This is the sort of things that got stuck in my head.”

“They took me inside a tiny cell where they interrogated me. They were two men and they kept alternating. They pointed a flashlight at my face and showed me various pictures. I had no clue what they wanted from me. I think that they were mostly interested by the elders who were around us. But the worst part for me came when they told me that they went through my records at school, that they saw that I was a good student, getting excellent grades, and that they expected that I wanted to go to university. I got alerted and told them that I didn’t plan to go to university. They said they found it weird that I didn’t want to go to university. I explained that as I was the oldest kid in five, my parents didn’t have enough money to support my university studies. At that moment they offered me to study at any university of my choosing for cooperating with them. They said that all I’d have to do was to see them every now and then and to talk to them about some things they were interested in. I kept trying to explain to them that I really didn’t plan to go to university. At that moment, I had already realized that I really wouldn’t go to university because if I went, I’d have them on my back permanently. I’m sure that if I had agreed, they’d have arranged for me to study at any university in the republic and that I’d have completed it. But it felt so dishonest to me. I was raised in a completely different fashion at home and it seemed so wrong and unfair to me to offer things like that.”

“They were disliked by every totalitarian regime – the Nazis persecuted them too. I think that it has something to do with moral strength. The children who are raised in the Scout are willing to sacrifice for their ideals and principles. They want to do something for others and they have a certain sense of honor. They wouldn’t do anything that’s dishonest. I think that this disrupts the totalitarian system which is based on people that are not thinking. Every totalitarian regime wants to have a nation that is obedient and that doesn’t think. The Scout teaches you to be obedient to your parents, authorities and leaders, but at the same time you’re being taught to live according to your conscience and principles. They knew that they’d risk running into a wall with scouts. Because these are people who’re ready to go to prison for their beliefs. Their determination is very strong. That’s the reason why so many scouts were imprisoned. Most of them were priests. I think that it had a lot to do with religion as well because the strongest were those who were scouts and Christians at the same time.”