“We as a generation that was marked by life, in a way, knowing the background how everything was connected: StB, politics and so on. We were skeptical if any real change can take place. If you had worked with older people who witnessed the year 1948 the cards were put on the table symbolically. Everyone would have welcomed it, but there was fear how it was going to turn out.”
“It was shock seeing a tank column in Tábor. So we removed or altered road signs and so on. Žižka Square was one big construction site in 1968, so we sent the troops that way and they all had to turn around.
“I sat down in a restaurant at the train station, ordered a cup of tea with my broken German, took out a newspaper and waited until 3:30pm the time of my announced arrival. In the meanwhile three people entered the restaurant. Later I learned that they were my father, my stepmother and a reporter from a local newspaper. They talked about something until my father got up, slowly approached me and cordially greeted me and asked something along the lines if I am Otto Rinke Jr. So I told him ‘Ja’ and he told me that he’s my father.”
“Since my dad (by living in another country) made it possible for me to travel and I decided to go, I had to take all the steps to get all the permits and so on. Then I was allowed to go. Of course I was contacted by the StB (State Security) because every company had an officer assigned to it. They knew everything and I was contacted before all my trips. It was done in secret. My phone rang and I picked it up:
‘Comrade Rinke, I will be waiting for you in the following location…’
We used to go to the Podolsko Bridge because there were “interview” facilities (monitoring booths for officers). The usual talk followed: ‘We know you are applying for a travel visa and we would like to know who contacted you and who you will meet.’ One thing that the StB emphasized was that I was to remember that Tábor is a military zone and to keep my lips sealed if possible. When I got back from my trip, the same talk took place. We met, drove somewhere, he asked questions and left me alone. It’s all on record.“
“I was supposed to start a new job at a department that worked on classified projects. The department was called “the testing ground”. Years later, I found out that I was not able to transfer there due to my family background. They were afraid of leaks.”
Otto Rinke was born in Tábor on September 15, 1943. His father Otto Rinke Sr., a German officer with State Protection Police (Schutzpolizei), stationed in Tábor where he met Helena Samcová, a seamstress. In 1944 Otto Rinke Jr and his mother stayed in Germany with his grandparents, but returned to Tábor shortly as the situation in the country began to be dangerous for civilians. At the beginning of May 1945, Rinke Sr. was transferred to Germany where he was captured by the Americans, but due to an exchange of prisoners he ended up in a soviet labor camp in Dnipro, Ukraine. In 1946, with ailing health, he was released and returned to Germany. The Rinke marriage ended in a divorce in 1945. In 1947, Otto Jr’s mother Helena died in a tragic accident and Otto remained in care of his grandmother who was widowed in 1948. In 1949 Otto began attending an eight-year primary school. Later he attended a Kovosvit company trade school in Sezimovo Ústí to become a machinist. His father never forgot about his son growing up on the other side of the iron curtain and supported him as much as he could. The first time they saw each other after the war was 1966 when Otto Rinke Jr could travel to West Germany. While working at Kovosvit he was chosen for a night school program and, later, he studied (distance learning) mechanical engineering and graduated from Czech Technical University in Prague. Until his retirement in 2004, Otto Rinke worked at Kovosvit in various jobs. He regularly visited his father until Otto Rinke Sr passed away in 2006. He remained in contact with his relatives in Germany. Otto Rinke died on 14 May 2020.
