Sylva Šimsová

"There was one block that belonged to the YMCA. The young and the students lived there. You had the feeling that the young and decent are concentrated there. Scouts were there as well. I and Joviš decided to organize the life in the camp as if it was a Scout camp. Therefore, we organized a morning warm-up exercise and people would really attend it. Not everybody of course, some of them slept a bit longer. I was into culture and therefore I thought that there also has to be a warm-up exercise for the mind, not just the body. So I would read them poetry. As I didn't have anything else there I would use the poems of Březina. Some of these boys had never heard of Březina before but they patiently listened to the reading anyway."

"There were voices which advocated a change of style – everything was to be done in a completely different way. This happened to me. In 1948, I was approached by two people who I barely knew. It was a sort of a random encounter of Scouts. One of them was a brother from Moravia, the other one was a student of the Faculty of Natural Sciences in Albertov. They told me: 'Švestka, go and meet Pavel Křivský'. 'Why?' 'He'll be organizing a voluntary work camp in the summer'. And it was worth it because the camps were compulsory for us. I was thinking to myself if I should do it. My parents always advised me to be careful so I didn't tell them about it and went to see Pavel Křivský. And I found out that I trusted him. I became a member of what was later called 'The Circle'. I went to that summer camp where we collected blueberries and where the circle was started. Pavel was of the opinion that we should dissolve the troops because people knew about their existence and start something new instead of them. I strongly disagreed with him. It was unthinkable for me to do something like that because of the children that were members of the troops. But he told me that I don't understand the political situation, that this regime is here to stay for a long time and that there is the risk of a loss of civilization--he liked to use big words. Some people in the Scout movement carried on their work in the troops and these people usually didn't join the circle. But many did and became very active in the circle."