Petr Kozánek

* 1949

  • “When the kids went to school, they said they wanted to talk to aunt. They pulled her out with them to go to the police station in Kyjov, there was a denunciation, or to the Public Security. There they said it wasn't enough, so they exported her to Hodonín and at one or two o'clock they said: 'The children will be back from school, so we will take you back.' They searched the whole house upside down. The children immediately reported to us. We even found some special tweezers or special tools that were not with us that they forgot. They succeeded at that time; it was very sophisticated… Just from that neighbor, it was a fairly large wardrobe, I think he still has it in the attic in the wall that adjoined. There was some of their technical equipment, there was a cable leading from there, and they lifted the floor in the nursery. The nursery adjoined the neighbor, lifting up the floor, the floorboards, and installing the cable and drilled through the wall into the other room. They did so without damaging the plaster. They did this as world champions. The microphone was hidden in the wall, but there was no damaged plaster in the room where it was installed. We didn't find it there. We knew the tapping was there, but we weren't able to find it.”

  • “We wanted to go on and there was a crowd of militiamen. One came and said, 'No, they're not going anywhere.' We just looked. My colleague, Jaroslav Kvíd, was his name, said something in the sense: 'It probably won't be that bad,' or something like that. But politely, not something utterly offensive. The guy with the machine gun took him over his neck and over his head, knocking him down. ,Down to the ground! Spread your hands,´ and they searched us. They chased us to the bus and beat us mad like idiots. Then they took us somewhere to Kosir and the first floor. There were already soaked boys, vomiting in various ways, just a terrible theater. Beating kept on the way all the time, but it made no sense, nobody was doing anything there. They beat us and screamed at us, just an idiotic theater. I was twenty years old, so of course I was terrified of what was going on. We were there till morning and then drove us to Pankrác. At Pankrac, I think there was only more beating down here in such an aisle. They stuffed us, I remember, fifteen on the cell for two people. Without blankets, without anything and we had to sleep on the ground. Without toilet paper either. There was no sink. We could only get washed by having to slam and ask the guard to flush the toilet, flushing was from the other side. So you went to the toilet, and when you wanted to wash yourself, you had to drink water from the toilet. We didn't get any water at all. So we've been there for over a month.”

  • “When I went with Veronika, they got a great idea. First, they always gave me VHS tapes, so they gave us a player and a computer. It was the first computer; it was just like the Martians landing down on the planet. We got a huge computer to play on and I don't know what. It was in the original packaging, wrapped with polystyrene, and it was a huge box. We had a suitcase open at the back because it was a big box, and there it was stuffed. We arrived at the border and they were perplexed. Here we were weaned. I say, 'Veronica, we need to pray well.' But she didn't start freaking at all, or that she had a problem with it. So we prayed nicely, they left us there for about an hour and then began to discuss it. They expected something in the boxes. They pulled out the boxes, that was the original packaging. They pulled out the computer, it was declared, and of course we registered everything. That was over an hour, I don't remember exactly. The point was that they were tired, I think so, and they didn't go any further. They dug up all this, found there was nothing. So they said, 'Well pack it up.' But they didn't say, 'Okay, let's move on.' So we packed it up, and went. And we brought the literature back then.”

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Kyjov, 10.05.2019

    (audio)
    délka: 02:34:38
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of 20th Century
  • 2

    Kyjov, 27.05.2019

    (audio)
    délka: 02:11:12
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of 20th Century
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

Communism is the direct influence of the devil on earth

Petr Kozánek in contemporary photograph
Petr Kozánek in contemporary photograph
zdroj: archiv pamětníka

Petr Kozánek was born on May 8, 1949 in Kyjov. Father Jaroslav as a notary had to retire early in the 1950s and the family found themselves in existential problems. His parents raised Peter to a Catholic faith that had accompanied him throughout his life. He studied at the University of Economics in Prague. In the protests a year after the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops, on August 21, 1969, he was arrested and beaten by members of the People‘s Militia. After a month of imprisonment and interrogation in Pankrác, he was released, escaped with a reprimand and could finish college. During his studies he married Jindřiška Kavačová and in 1973 graduated as an engineer in economics. He had to serve two years of basic military service, even though he already had two children. Peter has pursued many civic activities in support of ecology, unjustly persecuted people and religious freedom. In 1981, he also signed Charter 77. He travelled to Austria, where he carried inaccessible religious literature in Czechoslovakia. In 1984, he was arrested at the border and held in custody for a month. He received a suspended sentence of 10 months from the court. He worked in Kovo Bzenec as an economist, but after problems he left and found only a stoker work in the boiler room. Petr participated in the reproduction of various samizdat periodicals. He was monitored by the State Security as an enemy of Category I, constantly being bullied and installed a wiretap in his house. In November 1989 he founded the Civic Forum in Kyjov and was involved in municipal politics. He was elected member of the Czech National Council, where he served as chairman of the Budget Committee. He retired from politics and since 1993, as a member of the Board of Directors, privatized the company Koryna Koryčany.