Václav Cvejn

* 1944

  • "It was simple there. A teacher came in there, probably in the second year. And he said, he called us dearies: 'Dearies, you of course understand the meaning of Czechoslovak-Soviet friendship and there certainly is not a single one among you, who would not want to join this organization. Miss Dědíková, write it down and bring it to me in the teacher's lounge.' Dědíková was a classmate that sat at the first desk. 'I thank you and goodbye.' And so that's how it went down and we were all on there. I then later left this legitimation of Czechoslovak-Soviet friendship on a burning pyre in Náchod after the 21st of August 1968."

  • "It was the Náchod industrial school from the year 1961. We were all forced into the Mayday celebrations, the employees of companies, the students from schools, and so on. And back then we formed ourselves up opposite the eatery on Tepenská and the girls from Plhov were walking by. Our school was still waiting for the order and the girls from Plhov were getting away from us. And because it was the year 1961, then there was that triumphal flight of Jurij Gagarin into space, and so the girls had lots of balloons with Gagarin above their heads. And the boys from our class had nothing better to do, but to start taking those Gagarins down with hook nails. And there were less Gagarins. The party functionaries noticed this and there was big trouble. And now our teachers divided into two camps. One side said, that it was very serious antisocialist propagation, that they should be immediately expelled from school. The others said, that it was boys' mischief, they had to talk to them and sort it out somehow. And so they fought amongst each other and in the end the side, who said that it was just boys' mischief, won. Largely responsible for this was our class teacher Prokop Krutil and the gym teacher Pepa Černíkovský. And so it all ended well. Oh, not exactly well, the pupils in question were rewarded with a three in behavior and a reprimand from the principal. But what was most important, was that their stay at the school continued a year before graduation."

  • "One time there happened, that some commissar or other came and with him two members of the VB, who you would call policemen today, back then it was Veřejná bezpečnost (Public Security). He just came to tempt the neighbors Kants, or to recruit them into an agricultural co-operative. And that old man, a farmer, didn't want to for any price. And now how to do it, he was scared to tell them: 'Get out, I don't want it.' And he probably also didn't want to agree, and so he chose the tactic of putting his hand to his ear and saying: 'What are you saying? I can't understand you.' 'Well, if you're going to join the co-operative!' 'Oh but I hear so badly.' And they repeated it about three times and then that commissar called out: 'We'll show you!' And he said, some sort of tractor driver also stood there, and he told him: 'Drive into the yard and take all of that manure for our field.' And they did this burglary right in front of two members of Public Security. But they forgot the perceptive witness from behind the fence, the other adults were holed up in their houses."

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Velké Poříčí, 21.06.2022

    (audio)
    délka: 01:51:11
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They shot at balloons with Gagarin and were almost thrown out of the industrial school

The witness at the time of his mandatory military service as a radio operator and welder, 1963
The witness at the time of his mandatory military service as a radio operator and welder, 1963
zdroj: Archiv pamětníka

Václav Cvejn was born on the 13th of August 1944 in Velké Poříčí near Hronov. They were making his father join the KSČ, but didn‘t succeed. They had to accept him as an independent, because he was the only one in the company who knew a foreign language, and that was German. The witness had trouble getting into middle school, due to being a child from a religious family. In the year 1968 he joined the Czechoslovak People‘s Party. On the 18th of August 1968 he was returning from Rügen with his friends and met a large amount of soldiers and military equipment in the borderlands. After the invasion he along with other people publicly burned the membership card of the Union of Czechoslovak-Soviet Friendship. A year later during screening checks he refused to agree with the entry of the occupation armies. In the 80s he finished a state examination in German. In the year 1989 he became the only one in the company, who knew a foreign language, and so could become the head of international trade. He became a councilor and a representative of the town of Velké Poříčí and was responsible for the separation from the city of Hronov. After leaving to rest after the year 2008 he became the town chronicler. Making art was a passion for him throughout his entire life. The witness lived in his house in Velké Poříčí in the year 2022.