Václav Kášek

"But after a while, when I had applied for a passport, I was invited there and there was this young, nice guy sitting there and he said, 'Mr. Kášek, you have applied for a passport, but we have it here that you were - and it shoudl have been already erased in theory - we have it here that you were convicted, and so we are deciding whether we should give you the passport or not.' And again, it was like being hunted. That under certain circumstances it might... And he went on to say, 'You know, we obviously can't... I'm young, I can't judge the situation in that sixty-ninth year. But we still have it here.' And I said, 'You know what, I don't care. Even with this passport you won't let me go anywhere else than where I already can go: to Hungary, to the GDR. And he said, 'Well, thank you. Goodbye .'And within a week I got a paper to come and get my passport."

"In 1968 after the entry of the troops. I had a few days leave, so I was at home in Horoměřice. Through us, over Horoměřice, planes were flying to Ruzyně, so the first thing I heard - in the summer, open windows - a big roar. So I turned on the radio and I knew what was going on. So I got dressed, got on my motorcycle and rode to Beroun to the barracks. In Ruzyně I was stopped by Russian soldiers. There was already a piece of the motorway that is there now, but you could still drive in both directions, it wasn't one way yet. So they stopped me. I tried to push him away, he pulled out his machine gun and took my key from the ignition. That's how I knew this wasn't the way to go. But I pulled out my ID, showed him that I was an 'officer' and asked him to put me in touch with the commander. So the Russian lieutenant came again. We had a little talk. The soldier gave me back my keys, but told me that I had to return home and that I was not allowed to go anywhere. So I promised him. But at the crossroads near Nebušice I turned round and drove through Prague, where tanks were already driving, but it wasn't so heavily regulated. I got to Beroun and was immediately brought to the regimental commander. [...] The regimental commander let me know how things were in Prague. I knew something, because I had been through a part of Prague. How things were in Ruzyně, that's what I said. And it was bad there, because they were confiscating vehicles, especially trucks. And they shot a friend of mine there who was the driver of one of the trucks, and maybe he was giving them a bit of trouble. They didn't hesitate at all, so then there was a big funeral a week later."