Bohumil Řehák

“Mototechna actually provided me a hideaway. When I came back from PTP, sick with my eyes, I tried to get (employed) somewhere. But when I came to work, they said to me: 'Yeah, you are a young person and we need young people.' But when they started asking about family and so on, and they found out that my dad was punished for an act of sabotage, they soon lost their interest. But in Mototechna it did not matter, because my original neighbour from my birthplace stood up for me. Then they accepted me and I was extremely grateful to Mototechna. And gradually I worked my way up from the assistant worker to the leader of a certain group.”

“My dad absolutely believed, although I myself doubted it was possible to get out of it. But he claimed that nothing could be built on lies and deception. That this must happen. He wrote it in the chronicle that when we came back to Lipany - he said he wouldn't live to see it - so we should come to his grave and hit the stone and say, 'Dad, we're here!'“

“I remember (it) very much, because a friendship in the village was a great thing. Whether it was winter or summer, we had our games. And I like to remember skating for example. As Mrs. Hlavackova taught us how to skate and one girl who skated very well - Evža - so she showed us different exercises on skates. Again in the summer we went swimming. And we always used to come together in that village. We went to the cinema together. And when we grew bigger, we went to live music. But after 1945 - there were several communists who had their children. And of course they were against us - especially against the kids of the gulags.”

“You know, when he received the negative decision, that was a terrible blow to him. He had expected that they would [want to rectify] such an injustice. Father left it and started wasting away. He returned to us in Mnichovice... one day he told me: ‘Take me to Lipany. I’m going to say goodbye.’ So I took him here and he said goodbye to every tree. And he said to me: ‘I won’t be here much longer. Try to arrange for my funeral to be in the Lipany church.’ So of course I promised I would, but I was worried they wouldn’t allow it. And when he died, I went to the chairman of the national committee in Kolovraty, Mr Lehovec, and begged him to allow it. And in fact he heard me out and he did allow it. That was in 1971. It was a great funeral with many people attending. The funeral carriage was pulled by horses and accompanied by the funeral procession all the way to the Říčany cemetery. After it was over a classmate of my came to offer his condolences. He said: ‘I was here on duty.’ He was a member of State Security. That means that the secret police accompanied my father to his grave.”

“I was in Prague. I went after those ... As the demonstrations were, I attended them all. I was happy that the Bolshevik rule would end. You can't imagine what it was for us - what a relief. Although at that time, we had already escaped from the pursuit, because in Mototechna we could hide away all right. There was no such thing as anyone reproaching me as a class enemy. Naturally, we were about to get out property returned. Because I was aware of how my father had suffered for the fact that our family of Řeháks had lived on that native farm for centuries. And that he had to leave it! So I knew I couldn't betray it. That I had to go back, even if it was in such a bad condition.”