Karel Kulhavý

* 1947

  • "Next to our camp was a union camp, huts. And the leaders, they would come in the evening to sit around the campfire. They came and sat down and we didn't have time for them. In the evening we were preparing the program for the next day, while they were bored, as they had been all day. They had the district bosses coming over to have a good time. They didn't like the fact that they had always ill people, the barracks were full, the kids had colds. We're on the green meadow, in the tents, kids are running around in their shirts and shorts, and there's no sickness. Which makes perfect sense, since they've gotten used to cold. We were suspicious, they sent various checks on us, everything went well. But a more active comrade came to see if they could see the tents. They could see the tents. But one older boy, he was about seventeen, took a Junák magazine with him to the camp. The other one had borrowed it from him, and in order not to let anything happen to it, he left it on top of the bed. The comrade opened the tent and it was done, done."

  • "Anyone who had any Austrian uniform, we put it on and went down to Chlum. There was an attaché and military music, we were in old uniforms, flints, sabres, everyone had what they owned. It was going beautifully, there were two televisions. One was Austrian, they were filming the attaché and what was going on. The other was the State Security, they were filming it too. There was a moment when they were laying wreaths, and we wondered if we could shoot an honour salute from these old guns. Some of the guys knew who was who, so they easily recognized the men from State Security and went to ask if we could fire an honour salute. 'Act like we're not here, do everything like you normally do. It's not forbidden.' So, the salute was fired. There was a mass in the church. When we went to the church, the State Security rogues were trying to provoke something, because everything was cool. At least they threw smoke bombs and some cannonballs. They didn't manage to provoke anything, everything was calm."

  • "The day after the shooting, the company commander arranged for a personal protection squad to protect him. The squad was in the next room to the commander's office. In order to call them in, he would reach for the bell, there would be a bell button under the desk top. When needed, he would jingle it and the boys with Škorpions [Czech machine gun - trans.] would rush in to defend the company commander. The bell was installed, the wiring was pulled in various ways along the facades and masked between the parquet floors, they walked up to the desk and there was no button. And it wasn't in the whole barracks. It came back to me. ‘You're going to town to buy a button!’ So, I packed up and went to town to buy a button. Just as I got past the gate, it hit me: 'Boy, we're here to defend people, and when they needed it, we didn't do anything. They're going to beat me up and they're going to be fully in the right.' I shuffled into town, encountering bullet-riddled facades along the way, bullet marks there, a storefront with musical instruments shot to smithereens."

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    Hradec Králové, 06.06.2022

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People had the right to beat us for not defending them, says paratrooper about the occupation

In Austrian uniform from the Maria Theresian period, 2010
In Austrian uniform from the Maria Theresian period, 2010
zdroj: Archiv pamětníka

Karel Kulhavý was born on 30 October 1947 in Zdoňov. His father ran the post office in Josefov, where his mother also worked. He had an older sister Milena. After elementary school he became a master adjuster in the textile factory Lina in Josefov. At the apprenticeship he started tramping, got the nickname Čochtan and co-founded a tramp settlement in Josefov. In 1966 he went to the compulsory military service and joined the paratroopers in Prostějov. In 1967 he experienced the alert and preparation for the departure to the Golan Heights as part of the Six-Day War. During the August 1968 occupation, he saw the shot-up facades of houses and shop windows after the frenzied shooting of Soviet soldiers. He was ordered to seal weapons, ammunition and transmitters. In the autumn of 1968, he went into civilian life, got married and eventually had a daughter and a son. He began working for military repair shops. A local military counterintelligence officer opened a file on him, marked him as an agent. In Josefov, he led a hiking group and organized scout-style camps. Since childhood he was interested in the underground passages and the fortress in Josefov. At the end of the seventies, he repaired the fortress in Dolík (Ravelin XVII) with his friends. In 1980 he co-founded the Josefov Military History Club. In 1986, he and his friends staged a re-enactment of the Battle of Chlum, the official commemoration was attended by the Austrian attaché. The State Security filmed the event and interrogated him afterwards. In 1989, he was present at the founding of the Civic Forum in Jaroměř, pasting posters of the Civic Forum. In 2022 he lived in Josefov.