František Novotný

"It was also amazing in the sense that there were all kinds of máničkas (long-haired guys), underground ones. On the other hand, there were grandmothers in costumes from Slovakia and Moravia. The meeting was very special in that way, because it was a meeting of really very different people. On the one hand, grandmothers in costumes, and on the other hand, long-haired guys, and we who were not such long-haired guy. Although at that time we were a little bit. The communist Klusák, the then Minister of Culture, came there and started talking about the Cyril and Methodius tradition. That was embarrassing. He said, for example, 'Cyril.' And everybody started whistling and saying, 'Saint Cyril!' And he said, 'And Methodius.' And everybody said, 'Saint Methodius!' That's how he got it. I think he cut the speech very short and I think he was quite anxious when he left."

"There was no one there to collectivize everyone. When the order came from above, they said, 'We'd rather make our own arrangements and do it our way than have someone mess things up for us.' They set up a cooperative." - "In what year?" - "Definitely in the early fifties, right away." - "So maybe 1952?" - "1952, 1953. And of course they were also the head of the cooperative. One farmer was the agronomist, one was the zootechnician, one was the chairman, and that's the way it worked."