Vladimír Haber

* 1949

  • “His dad, they were directed a little differently than towards our party that ruled here. No one convinced him of this. I summed up his speech in one sentence - Remember the year sixty-eight, what they did to us - but there was definitely more to it, that's how I shortened it, that's basically how it ended." - "How did you go to that field, because Láďa Jarý just said that he doesn't remember that there was ever such a huge energy in that team. How was it actually?" - "It's true, one got motivated by the fact that they did something to us, that it's not an opponent on the field, but also our opponent, who hurt us in a way, and that we will beat them on the field and get to the finals. The motivation was great, there were still interesting moments, maybe Láďa mentioned that coach Vícha replaced the goalkeeper. Our goalkeeper, who had not caught before, went there and caught about three sevens for them. It was interestingly conceived. I remember the scorer didn't make a seven and the coach kicked him in the ankles, it was terrible. They couldn't lose - and he was kicking him there. Láďa Jarý scored one important goal, he passed to Jindra Krepindl for a smash, but before the match there was an instruction that we would not play smashes in order not to make a mistake. Jindra went to sit on the bench for that pass and didn't play anymore. These are the curiosities that stuck in my memory from that match. The motivation, sure. I mainly remember the wonderful euphoria in the showers, how we rejoiced. That was something amazing. We beat the Russians, that is, the Soviets, and we were in the finals, which no one expected."

  • "It was so strange. Suddenly a chess player who was supposed to go somewhere flew into the room: 'Boys, the Russians are here.' 'Get out, dude, we want to sleep.' Really. We saw planes arriving at Ruzyň, it was beautiful to see. We didn't know what was going on, it took about half a day. Suddenly they came to us to U Julisky street in cars that they apparently seized here. One was Fruits and Vegetables, soldiers were sitting there, and not our people. We knew right away that they were from Eastern countries, a bit slant-eyed. Then the tanks also arrived, they stayed there for maybe a fortnight. We had fun with them, they didn't even know where they were, that they were in Prague. It was not pleasant to have tanks under your windows. We were afraid to go out, we weren't even allowed to go anywhere. It was a strange feeling. There were brave people, I confess that I was not one of them, who ran around Prague and took down signs so that the occupiers could not find the name of which street, in order to confuse the occupiers. Especially athletes, they could run fast. They made it.”

  • "I joined the 12-year-old school in Plasy, but I quit after a year because we had problems. I played hockey in Pilsen, the connection between Pilsen and Plasy was bad and I couldn't get to training on time, it wasn't ideal and I sometimes left early from some lessons. Although I enjoyed them, I didn't participate, especially in PE, which was at the end of the day, I ran to get the bus to go to Pilsen for a training. I got a C from Behavior for unexcused classes, that was a big problem. We agreed that I would go to Pilsen to study. I trained to be a mechanic like my father, I got to where the big machine tools, lathes and milling machines were assembled. They were exported to Japan and the whole world. Because I was taught at home and was a little skilled, before the military service I got an offer that when I returned from the military service, I would get to work abroad. I think it would be fun to get to know something about the world. However, I got to Dukla Prague, I improved my handball skills and found out that I could also get outside the country with handball and that there could be some money from it. I decided to play handball, I returned to Pilsen, even though I had an offer from Dukla. I got into the national team, I really saw a lot of the world, I traveled a lot. I think my decision was good, I enjoyed what I did and still do to this day more than locksmithing. I could also do it, but I probably wouldn't be able to do it as well as I did in sports."

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    Praha, 10.08.2022

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He felt sorry for the Soviet soldiers, but not for the handball players. He avenged the occupation at the Olympics

Vladimír Haber in the B jersey of Dukla Prague in 1968. In the photo, he is in the goal area when he falls to the ground
Vladimír Haber in the B jersey of Dukla Prague in 1968. In the photo, he is in the goal area when he falls to the ground
zdroj: archive of the witness

Vladimír Haber was born on August 26, 1949 in Pilsen. His brother Zdeněk was 14 years older and played hockey for Škoda Plzeň and the Czechoslovak national team. He led Vladimir to sports, their father played national handball. When Vladimír Habr was 11 years old, his mother died. In his teenage years, he played handball and hockey at the highest level. At the age of 18, he received a call-up order to join the handball club Dukla Liberec. He started there in the summer of 1968 and experienced the occupation of Prague by Warsaw Pact troops on August 21, 1968 at the Dukla Prague sports center. He spent the first year mainly in the Dukla B team in the second league, the second year he played for the Dukla A team in the first league and won the championship title. He left Dukla for Škoda Plzeň, where he met with other Czechoslovak representatives Vladimír Jarý and Jindřich Krepindl. In 1972, he won silver medals with them at the Summer Olympics in Munich. In the the finals, Czechoslovakia won over the Soviet Union after a memorable speech by coach Jiří Vícha in the dressing room before the match. With patriotic words, he whipped the team into a heroic performance. In 1974, Vladimír Haber won the title of champion of Czechoslovakia with Škoda Plzeň. In 1976, he finished in seventh place at the Summer Olympics in Montreal. In addition to Škoda Plzeň and Dukla Prague, he also played for Baník Karviná. In 1983, he left for the West German Bavarian club Bad Neustadt, where he stayed until 1987. After 1989, he returned to Bavaria. He coached Škoda Plzeň, with which he won two domestic titles. Together with Michal Barda, he led the Czechoslovak and Czech national teams. They advanced to the final tournaments of the World Handball Championship with only one exception. He and his wife raised a daughter, lived in Třemošná in 2022, had a grandson and a granddaughter. Vladimír Haber was then a handball expert for sports stations Sport 1 and Sport 2.