Pavel Hlava

* 1963

  • “We were approaching Battery Tunnel. That’s where I started shooting. I took some nice shots of the Twins still intact. Then we were passing through the turnstiles and my last two shots just before had been… on the left a billboard advertising Arnold Schwarzenegger’s latest film. To be released in October. By sheer coincidence it was about terrorists. And so I shot the billboard and then I closed the camcorder, but just before I did, I took one last shot of the Twins – and that’s when the first plane was coming. I didn’t actually notice it through the tiny display, but I do have footage of the first plane crashing into the first tower. An explosion followed, but like I say, I didn’t notice it on the small display, so we peacefully continued into the tunnel. Mike Cohen was always listening to the news. He never listened to any music. And as we were entering the tunnel, he suddenly screamed. He was astounded. Apparently, some plane had hit the first tower of the World Trade Centre.”

  • “Of course, I remember every year, you bet I do. To be honest, when it’s Petr and Pavel’s name day, my name day, I couldn’t care less. Sometimes I randomly pick up the calendar on June 29 and say: ,Whoops, it’ my name day today!’ But when September 11 is approaching, as early as in August I start feeling, well, not stressed exactly, but expectant, watchful. ,Here we go, another anniversary is coming!’ And how the time flies! Twenty years’ anniversary this year.”

  • “We stood there, looking around, and suddenly I noticed a strange noise, which was kind of increasing. And then, out of the blue, an aircraft appeared over us. I don’t know how to describe it. A terrible shock. We were dumbstruck. We stood there petrified. Nobody knew what was happening. Simply this huge plane – and you’re thinking: ,This can’t be normal, this is no accident.’”

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    Brno, 07.07.2021

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Somebody up there watches over me

Pavel Hlava with his camera
Pavel Hlava with his camera
zdroj: Archiv pamětníka

Pavel Hlava was born on April 24, 1963, in Brno. He barely remembers his father, who died when the narrator was thirteen years old. In 1978, he went to Ostrava to train as a mining machine fitter. He worked as a miner. After his divorce, he decided to try his luck in the USA. His main motivation was to make enough money to buy a flat and settle permanently in Brno. He was living in New York, where he was working as a maintenance man. On September 11, 2001, he and his boss Mike Cohen were going down to Pennsylvania on a job. From the car, the narrator was filming the streets of Manhattan to test his new camcorder. At that precise moment, the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre took place and the narrator happened to record it on his camcorder. Later he discovered that he was the only one who had captured both planes hitting the towers at the same time, which generated a lot of media attention. In 2003, he returned from the USA back to Brno.