Zdeněk Kolek

* 1933

  • "Scouting was allowed after the war. So we had a Boy Scout troop, and there weren't enough certified Scout leaders back then, so my oldest brother led us. We went for a few days, I remember, in the woods north of Brno. It is called the Bílovice woods. We played games and various activities in the clubhouse in Rosice, but most importantly, in 1948, Scout was banned, and we still continued to function as a so-called readers'... there was a magazine back then. At first, it was called Scout, then it was called Vpřed [Forward - transl.], and Foglar, who you may know of, used to publish the stories of Rychlé šípy [the Rapid Arrows- transl.] on its back page. So, when it got banned, there were 'Forward Magazine Reading Clubs' until that was banned in 1950 as well, so until then, our troop operated as a reading club."

  • "The second brother originally wanted to study to be a priest. Then a state facility in Litomyšl was designated, and it was regarded as being organized by the state, so he didn't go there. He was conscripted into the PTP [Pomocné technické prapory - Technical Auxiliary Battalions - transl.] if you know what that was. They weren't like the PTPs depicted in the "Black Barons". He actually worked in the mines, a man who was not used to that. But imagine... Three and a half years. After two years and all in the army... they didn't get... They only got food. Only after 1955, it reached even the UN that in fact, they were being exploited here... so the harsh phase of the PTP was banned. The milder kind, like the one the author of the "Black Barons" experienced, was more fun than work. In the end, in 1955, my brother got a severance pay. He got money that was just enough to buy a suit."

  • "One of my friends brought the Teachers' Newspaper, he said his daughter was a teacher. I said, 'I have the diploma, but it's invalidated,' that's what I told him. And this one guy said that he had an uncle at the Ministry of Education, that he talked to him, and he said, 'This is the first time I've heard that you can add something to a diploma, have him come to see me with it.' So when I got there with the diploma, he showed it to all his officemates. I said there were more of us. 'You'd have to investigate.' They sent an order to Brno. In the meantime, the dean of the faculty, I think, had already been removed. The times were already changing. They sent an order to send me a diploma authorizing me [to practice the profession of a teacher] instead."

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    Škvorec, 22.02.2023

    (audio)
    délka: 01:17:19
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu The Stories of Our Neigbours
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A teacher without the possibility to teach

Zdeněk Kolek
Zdeněk Kolek
zdroj: Witness archive

Zdeněk Kolek was born on 17 August 1933 in Rosice near Brno. His father, Antonín Kolek, a teacher, school principal and writer, had to leave the educational system after 1948 because he was not sympathetic towards the new regime. Zdeněk Kolek joined the scouts after the war, and after the organization was banned, the troop continued to operate as a readers‘ club of the (scout) magazine “ Vpřed“ (Forward - transl.). However, even this club had to cease its activities in 1950. After graduating high school, he applied to the Faculty of Arts at Charles University but was not accepted, so he joined a factory for a year. He then applied to the Faculty of Education, from which he graduated with an honours degree and an addendum stating that he was not permitted to practice teaching because of his negative attitude towards the People‘s Democratic establishment. He completed his compulsory military service and then found a job at Spolana Neratovice, where he met his future wife. As the regime began to ease, thanks to an acquaintance, he managed to get the ban on teaching at the primary school in Škvorec lifted. In 1972, he started teaching in Karlín, and in 1977, at a school providing experimental education in Žižkov. There, he spent the revolutionary year of 1989 with his students. After the revolution, he founded one of the Civic Forum (OF) branches. He was an MP for the OF for four years. In 2023, he lived in Škvorec.