Oldřich Plajner

* 1931

  • “I have to point out that our house was located at the very end of Holešov, opposite to the forest. In the evening a small unit of Czechoslovak soldiers came to our place, took shelter for the night and in an interview which lasted until the morning warned my dad that he should hide the women, radios, watches etc. because all of it would be lost upon the arrival of the Soviet army. Back then my dad was a de facto illegal Holešov county representative and so it was appropriate that he received the information and was able to take precautions.”

  • “As a matter of fact, Junák was about to merge with the Socialist Union of Youth. Under its influence – and other things – my father being Junák’s head chief put his name under this merger even if it was against his conviction. First of all, he was outvoted and second, he was given an option to either sign the merger or to face Junák being proclaimed a counter-state organization and its adult members being treated accordingly. Had he not signed Junák’s merger, he would have exposed some 1 500 Junák’s officials of age to persecution and disgrace.”

  • “At one point a colleague of mine – an eminent communist who knew Rudolf Slánský – took pity on poor Plajner, my persistent refusal, and all the misunderstandings that arose out of it. Allegedly she said at some meeting: ‘Please, can you leave finally leave Plajner at peace – he is a decent person.’ That of course amused me in many ways. First of all because they really gave me rest with the party application and second, that she implied that decent people had no place in the Party. I was fully content with the result.”

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Praha, 26.01.2017

    (audio)
    délka: 01:54:16
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the 20th Century TV
  • 2

    Praha, 30.03.2017

    (audio)
    délka: 51:00
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the 20th Century TV
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My Fate wore a scout scarf wrapped around the neck

Oldřich Plajner 2017
Oldřich Plajner 2017
zdroj: natáčení ED

Oldřich Plajner was born on 26 June 1931 as the younger of two sons into a Czech family. His father Rudolf Plajner (1901 - 1987) worked as a high-school teacher, and was a devoted scout and the head chief of Junák. From 1939 till 1945 he lived in Holešov where Oldřich‘s father served as a liaison between resistance groups. In 1947-1948 Oldřich spent one year studying at the Czechoslovak section of the Carnot Lycée in Dijon, France. Following graduation in 1950 he studied at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics in Prague and then got hired to the Research Institute of Communication Technology where he worked up until retirement in 1991. He and his wife brought up three sons. He witnessed three dissolutions of the scout organization (1939, 1948 and 1970). His father Rudolf Plajner was engaged in the movement‘s restoration in 1945 as well as by the end of the 60s. However, in 1970 he signed a document allowing for the incorporation of Junák into the Pionýr organization.