Dušan Leitgeb

* 1957

  • "Why do you think they were so bothered by the Léto s muzikou (Summer with Music), or why did they finally decide to ban it?" - "Because they were horrified to find out through their whistleblowers that there were so many pre-sale tickets ordered. And they were afraid of this independent youth getting together. I was listed as a troublesome youth, and then they made a file on me. Anybody they checked on at one of these events and the idiot in uniform wrote they down in his notebook, they were already listed as a person of interest. They caught you a second time somewhere, wrote you down, and you were already listed as a troublesome person. You were already there. And they could've had you any time they wanted, whoosh. And this one is checked the third time, so we're gonna pull this one, for example, for questioning. He isn’t anymore the one who is going there, just because everyone is going there."

  • "I was already pumped with adrenaline, I didn't care anymore. They had that famous meeting there, I came there in overalls, an fitter’s bag, I mean with other guys, not alone of course. So, I banged the table with it and I said: 'What am I hearing here? Would you like to hit those kids some more? Fuckers, see you by the cinema in the evening!' 'What is going on by the cinema in the evening?' 'Same as in Prague. Let's talk about what is going on.’ The only one who came was the mayor, the chairman of the national committee, the only one who came: 'Don't fool around, don't fool around, everything will be explained.' In such an adorable way. Nothing will be explained. That's what happened. Well, I didn't have a microphone, so I just yelled it, and the next day Eman, we had already electricity from Eman, it was already sounded, in front of the cinema, where there is the building of the financial administration, it was already full. And by then there were already guys with guns, some with side arms just among us, we knew which ones they were. If he had pulled it out there then, we would have bitten them off. But in the cinema there were six men formerly imprisoned by communists with submachine guns. Nobody in the Republic came that close to dying that day. All you had to do was give them that order."

  • "We were taken away by the State Security members. On Friday. We were put on the cuffs. There were the máničkas around us and we were with cuffs. And to Hodonín for interrogation. So, I only know what was going on here when the máničkas got here thanks to Eman's film, which he has on tape. And, of course, my mother, my brother, my other grandmother, friends, people from our street, publicans, acquaintances. So, when we came back from the interrogation, we learned that here it was like a city under siege. Alcohol was banned, even 10 degree beer in the shop, In the pubs. Guys were drinking tea, pouring rum into it, soda water. The máničkas gathered in the park, I wasn't there, I was locked up in Hodonín."

  • Celé nahrávky
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    Veselí nad Moravou, 31.01.2022

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    délka: 02:23:39
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    Veselí nad Moravou, 04.05.2022

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    délka: 02:07:04
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Do not trust the powerful

During the shooting of the experimental film The Hound of the Baskervilles, directed by Jaroslav Formánek, 1980s
During the shooting of the experimental film The Hound of the Baskervilles, directed by Jaroslav Formánek, 1980s
zdroj: archiv pamětníka

Dušan Lobo Leitgeb was born on 16 May 1957 in Kyjov to parents Věra and Antonín Leitgeb. He spent his childhood and most of his adult life in Veselí nad Moravou. In May 1968, his father brought him to the Scout organization, which was just being renewed, and Dušan was a member until its dissolution in 1970. After finishing primary school, he entered a vocational school in Valtice in 1972, where he attempted to escape through the Iron Curtain. In 1976-1978 he completed his compulsory military service in Bor in the Tachov region. After returning home, he joined the máničkas and tramps and soon found himself in the crosshairs of the State Security as a member of the so-called „troublesome youth“. In 1980 he co-organised the Léto s muzikou (Summer with Music) festival, which was eventually banned. Three years later he married Lenka Veverková, with whom he raised his sons Lukáš and Jakub. In 1989 he signed Několik vět (A Few Sentences) petition and became one of the initiators of the Velvet Revolution in Veselí nad Moravou. At the time of the interview (2022), he was living on the Baťa Canal on a houseboat he built with the help of friends.