„They threw newspaper into our cell, which said that an amnesty had been announced on May 9, 1960. A while later they tossed our garments on the cell floor. After we had changed, they brought us to the courtyard and loaded us into trucks. They didn’t tell us anything and just drove us to the railway station in Opava. Beforehand they had given us some money for the road, saying it was money that we had earned. I received about fifty-seven crowns. They dropped us off at the railway station and told us to go home. No one was concerned with us anymore, no one talked to us anymore. So, I bought a ticket and waited for the train. I didn’t dare coming home this early. I waited in Studénka until it got a little dark and then struggled to get home. I was happy that I had been released but was also worried what it would be like at home. Fortunately, they had some visitors there. Everyone joyfully welcomed me.”
„Right after they took me in, that very afternoon, four officers sat down with me and started the interrogation: “Surely you must know why you’re here. And if not, you will learn why soon. You know, the pitcher goes so often to the well…” They wanted me to finish saying ‘that it is broken at last’. I said: “until someone brings it full of beer.” It was like adding fuel to the fire. They started shouting at me that I would not be making fun of them. Then they started asking if the name Vašek rings a bell with me. At that point I knew it was over. I denied everything, of course. They interrogated me all night long. Then they let me into a cell. There was one plank-bed, so I lay on it. I wasn’t even lying down yet when two other officers came for me and started interrogating me all over again till the morning. And they asked the same questions again. At first, I denied everything with all my might. They yelled at me and did everything they could to get something out of me. Then they let me in the cell again. They let me be for a while, gave me some food, some coffee and a piece of bread. But before I could pull myself together a guard came and took me to the interrogation room again. That’s how the first days went by, with me not getting any sleep. I got some soup in a mess tin. Only on the third or fourth day I was allowed to sleep for a bit. Then the interrogations continued at the same pace. After a week or maybe ten days they already let me sleep at night.”
„Then December 19, 1958 came. I was at work in the Tatra factory in Kopřivnice as usual. I was called to the director’s office. So, I went to the secretariat. I took some plans with me, because I thought that was the reason why they had called for me. After some time two men in leather coats came and asked if my name was Zima. I said yes and asked what they wanted. They asked me to come with them. I refused, arguing that the director had been awaiting me after which they proved their identity as State Security and commanded me to come with them. They took me into a car and drove me to the regional State Security office in Ostrava. When we passed the reception and I saw the irons bars, I figured why I had been taken there.”
„On the next meeting Vašek already had a radio transmitter with him. We talked about the transmission and all that needed to be done. We also talked about taking some photographs. We always had a task. And at about 9 p.m. he started transmitting. Prior to that we had had to lay antennas and cables up at Trúba, so that the radio transmitter would have a sufficient reach. He explained a whole range of things to me. That’s how our meetings would look like. He also always told me what needed to be found out in Tatra, whom I should ask and what. We kept meeting at Trúba for about four years. He used to hide the radio in this inaccessible place in a niche. No one would ever guess that it was hidden in there.”
Zdislav Zima was born April 25, 1925 in Kopřivnice. His parents worked in the Tatra car factory. His father was a test driver. Zdislav worked in Tatra as a locksmith after Kopřivnice had been occupied by the German army and the Nazis had closed all high schools. After the war he became friends with Jan Vašek, who later emigrated and became a foreign intelligence agent. At the turn of the 1940s and 1950s Zdislav provided him with information regarding the car factory in Kopřivnice. Together they also transmitted encrypted messages abroad. Zdislav was arrested in December 1958 and was sentenced in April 1959 to ten years in prison for espionage. One year later he was released after an amnesty had been announced. He worked in the Kotouč cement works in Štramberk until his retirement. He was fully rehabilitated after the fall of Communism and was recognized as a Member of the anti-communist resistance and opposition by the Ministry of Defence in 2014.
