Radko Veverka

* 1947

  • „I was a freshman when the last batch of planes arrived from Russia, and that was a beautiful new era. They were produced, it was also top secret, in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Those planes flew from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to us in six days. They [pilots] landed there, handed it over to government officials from the ministry. We already knew how to deal with it more or less theoretically from school, so they divided us according to that. This was the cherry on top: they had beautifully made Russian stars on them. Of course, we thought that the stars must go down immediately. Nobody would believe it. Perhaps this was the revenge of those Siberian Komsomol members. It was such strong paint that the stars were almost impossible to wash off. It was washed with all kinds of solvents. One could see that star on those planes for many years afterwards.“

  • „All the fun started for us not on the 21st, but on the 20th of August around eleven o'clock in the evening. An immediate combat alarm was announced, and it sounded a little different, really combat-like. We were already taking our personal weapons, because we didn't know how it would turn out. They came for us by air and bus and took us all to the airport, they said that we must immediately prepare the maximum number of planes for take off. We had it ready in about three hours, at one o'clock in the morning. Hung bombs, loaded ammunition. Now we waited and didn't know what would happen. At two o'clock in the morning, a command came in to take all the bombs down and re-hang all the rocket launchers and additional tanks. Change again. It was about five o'clock in the morning. A clear, cold day and it was dawning when the first Russian planes came in and flew up, then down, because they saw the runway was blocked, so they flew away. Then, around eight o'clock, Russian transporters flew in and threw dozens of paratroopers, their attack units, at us. They moved us into a herd and then herded us into the movie theatre and watched. Meanwhile, we watched through the cracks as they cut all the radar cables and lightning rods like crazy.“

  • „There were protests, but we were ‘cured’ of them very quickly. We made a huge banner there saying: RUSSIANS GO HOME and hung it in the forest behind the planes under the noses of the Russians. The Russians were getting upset and didn't know what to do with it, so they sent a scout who told us to take it down. We sent him away saying we wouldn't talk to him. Then some senior scout came and asked if we were going to do it. We also didn't want to talk to him at all. A moment later, one of their half-track vehicles with an anti-aircraft gun drove by and cut the trees with a missile and everything fell to the ground. Our hearts were pounding and we got out of there. And then we didn't do anything like that anymore, because there was no point in going against all odds.“

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    Olomouc, 08.09.0200

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    délka: 01:47:29
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the region - Central Moravia
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They put up a banner saying „Rusi iditě domoj“ („Russians go home“) and the Soviets shot it down at them with an anti-aircraft gun

Radko Veverka in 1979
Radko Veverka in 1979
zdroj: witness's archive

Radko Veverka was born on March 3, 1947 in Rýmařov as the elder of two sons to parents Miroslav and Anna. His father is said to have joined the resistance during the Second World War. In 1946, as a forest engineer, he was called to Rýmařov to manage the former Liechtenstein forests. The family stayed in this town until 1950, when they moved to Olomouc. Since childhood, Radko Veverka has been drawn to aeroplanes. Although he trained as a locksmith, in 1965 he was accepted as an aircraft mechanic in the Czechoslovak People‘s Army. After completing training and flying school in Košice, he was assigned to the air base in Náměšť nad Oslavou to the 20th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment. There, too, on the morning of August 21, 1968, he experienced the occupation of the airport by Soviet paratroopers during the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops. In personnel reviews, he then refused to label the occupation as friendly aid, and he was fired from the army in 1970. He was then under the control of the StB (state security) and found it very difficult to find a job. He only got a job at the state-owned enterprise Vodovody a kanalizace Olomouc (Water supply and sewers), where he stayed for 23 years. From 2000 until his retirement, he worked at the aircraft repair shop in Kbely as a helicopter service technician. After the fall of the communist regime, he ran several times for the ČSSD (Czech Social Democratic Party) for the city council of Olomouc. In 2020, he lived in Olomouc.