Josef Podběra

“It was in winter in the Rovnost camp. They began with a construction of a new boiler- room, wash-room and a changing room in the camp. There was one tap with water for washing. It was wrapped in straw to prevent the water from freezing. A diarrhea epidemic spread in the camp. One of my friends and comrades, Karel Eizert, stayed in the first barrack, and he always had to walk to the lavatory through the entire camp, all the way behind the canteen. That evening it was my turn to watch over the barrack to keep an eye out for fire. It was part of the bullying there, because after the night watch we had to go to work the following morning. As I was standing there I noticed something white moving in the back. It was Karel. I shouted at him: ´Hello, Charlie, what’s up?´ He replied: ´Don’t bother me, I gotta go.´ He made two more steps and he says: ´Well, I don’t have to anymore!´ He walked over to the tap, washed his ass and went back.”

“After the election the communists took over. It was hard to tell who was a greater thief. When I was imprisoned – I had been in Jáchymov, Leopoldov – and when I then returned to the technical institute in Pankrác, that Communist Party chairman and the head of the ČSD works in Louny was brought in. They put him to prison for stealing some paints in the workshop, but there was more than that.”

“I was put in a correction cell in the Barbora uranium mine in Jáchymov, that was the worst correction of all, especially in winter. There were no windows, just holes. At night, they provided you with a plank, 20 cm wide. That was your bed. There was nothing on top of it. I only had one blanket with holes. You had your boots on, foot-rags and underwear. Sometimes they gave you a smock-frock ,but mostly it was just a shirt and a loose coat. No trousers. This was the warden Kulhánek. I was put in the correction cell often, mostly for saying something stupid. Somebody always turned me in... For example: this happened on the last April day, and it was enough to send me for correction. I made a joke: ´Guys, tomorrow (on May Day), we shall dress up and march in the May Day parade.´”

“I worked in the train cars section. They ordered me to arrange cars for their journey to Prague. I prepared cars which had no windows or doors for them. It was in winter, and when they arrived, they got sick with flu. My dad got kicked out of the train workshop immediately after, because he was heard saying that it was the Allies who had won the war, and not the Soviets. Pamphlets were being printed, and then there was this attack at one communist whose name was Franta. But the attack was done only to in order to scare them. We placed the device behind his window. I didn’t agree with it at that time, and I still don’t, even now, because intimidation was pointless at the time when they were already killing people.”