"And there we learned that the decision of the Minister of Defense Lomský and the head of the main political administration Václav Prchlík that Novotný did not want to resign as first secretary and that there were even indications that he could use the army. And they claim that the army can only be used by decision of the Central Committee, not the First Secretary. And that they prohibit all departments from maintaining contact with the party's territorial authorities."
"There is a general disintegration of the system. This was due to the fact that there was an economic collapse in the early 1960s, one might say. I remember that when someone went to the store, they only got one quarter of the butter, they didn't sell more to anyone else."
"On the second of March, I was in Prague when a demonstration led by Josef Smrkovský took place. It was in the left wing of the exhibition grounds, there were about six thousand people. A whole constellation from the year 1968 performed there. Chic, Jiří Hanzelka. And it is interesting that at that time Gustáv Husák was also among the progressive ones, who also spoke there publicly and had one of the biggest applauses when he answered the question of what he says on the fact that the President of the Republic is disgraced. Because it was already written and talked about Novotný. And he said it's always wrong, but when it's Novotny, it's okay. I remember how it was. And then he finished the way he did."
Josef Mervart was born on March 3, 1932 in Dolany near Jaroměř to a family of village farmers, but his parents set out on a less travelled path and ran an inn in Bříšťany near Hořice during the war. The father was involved in the mobilization and the mother was left alone for a pub and a small farm shortly. After demobilization, the father returned to the family and they survived the war without loss of lives. His father almost got involved in distributing leaflets that cost the lives of at least three people from the village. At the end of the war, the inn housed the so-called national guests - German refugees from the front. After the liberation, they hosted Red Army soldiers. The Mervart family moved to the Sudetenland and settled in Hejtmánkovice in the Broumov region. Josef Mervart became a member of the Czechoslovak Youth Union and later joined the Communist Party. After school, he entered the military career. Josef Mervart protested against the August occupation of 1968, followed by his expulsion from the Communist Party and expulsions from the army. During the Velvet Revolution, he became involved in the corporate Civic Forum in Semily Metalworks. He was rehabilitated and promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1991, two years before his retirement. At the time of filming in 2021, he lived happily with his second wife in Bělá.
Graduation ceremony at the Klement Gottwald Military Political Academy, Josef Mervart receives a diploma from Rector Vojtěch Mencl, Prague, March 1969.
Graduation ceremony at the Klement Gottwald Military Political Academy, Josef Mervart receives a diploma from Rector Vojtěch Mencl, Prague, March 1969.
