František Vláčil

"I was told to go on duty the next day at six in the morning. I was supposed to do maintenance, clear the fence of weeds so it wouldn't short out or set off a false alarm. So we went on duty in the morning and were cleaning it. All the time I was thinking how to escape so that the old hand who was there with me wouldn't see me. Finally it was lunchtime. They brought lunch, and after lunch the old hand and the one who brought lunch said, 'Come on. Let's go blueberry picking.' So we went and we were out the gate. So it was excellent, because there was nothing there but Austria. So we went for blueberries, and they were about ten meters ahead of me. I slowed down some more to get away from them, and eventually I turned and started running. Then I am running for a while and I'm still thinking because it was horrible. Finally, I think to myself, I'm going to come back. So I went back to where I disconnected. I am looking for them, but I couldn't find them. So I decided to run away again. And this time I ran really fast."

"I knew I was going to run away, but I didn't want to run away before I said goodbye to my family, my mum and dad. I went by train all night. And I get home, I knock on the door, and Daddy opens it, his wide-eyed, and he says, 'You ran away!' I said, 'No, I'm on vacation.' Then he was happy, and Mum was happy,too. I got ten days' leave and two days to travel. It was just at the end of June, so it turned out that I would spend my birthday at home. We celebrated with my friends and my parents. That's how I spent the last few days. I was supposed to be at the company at midnight on July 2. I celebrated my birthday at home and I admit I got drunk." - "Did you tell anyone what you were up to?" - "I think I did reveal something. I think I told my mum I was going to knock it off and run away. But because she saw I was drunk, she didn't think I was really going to do it. Otherwise, I couldn't say much to anyone because if someone accidentally spilled the beans, I wouldn't go to the line again. I had to be careful."