Petr Švestka

“One of my first graphic jobs was an ID card I made for Jindra. Applied art, much hand work. I changed the photo and imitated the stamp by a screwdriver. Me and Jindra we went to Brno to see Carol. I went to collect her. Immediately we realised that we were being followed by the police. It was like in a James Bond film. We boarded a trolley-bus, a cop behind us. In the last moment we got off and he remained inside. We thought we lost them but there were more.”

“The prison wardens had bonuses for exceeding the norms so that they motivated us. They told us that if we do ten percent of pigs more, we’ll get a beer after the work. The prisoners were naturally enthusiastic: ‘Beer! Beer!’ And everybody worked like crazy. But this led to norms being raised. When I started we did 250 pigs and 80 cows a day. When I was leaving the norm was twice as high.”

“I knew there would be a problem, they arrested a friend. So I hid everything, took away my typewriter and left there only a few things I painted. I arrived from the weekend and after five minutes there was banging on the door. The police arrived. We had double doors, I opened the first one but didn’t want to let them in. I was well trained, from older chartists I knew what our rights were. But I only managed to say, ‘You don’t have the right for this…’ and was handcuffed.”