Leoš Mayer

* 1964

  • "Among the co-signatories and friends, there were a lot of people who became agents. It's sad, unfortunately, who gave information, knowingly gave information. I don't know the background, I don't know what led them to it. And I thought to myself, how would I behave, if I'd had children at that time? My heroism would probably have ended. It's just another thing to be a hero when it's nothing, and when they can do anything to you. I didn't have a dizzying career; I was an ordinary worker at the depot. The kids weren't even on the way, so basically I had nothing to lose. But if I had anything to lose, I don't know. It would either force me to flee to the West somewhere to protect my children. Or I would withdraw. And unfortunately, they forced someone to to report. There are a lot of people like that here. I don't want to apologize, but we don't know the reasons why those people did it, so I don't judge them in any way, I don't condemn them, because I don't know the reasons."

  • "They threatened, they threatened in the same way. They said it was no problem for them to take both of our lives, but why would they do it. So this kind of threatening, not threatening. They just put themselves in the light, as if they were the good ones, that they could do it, but they won't. It was quite comical like that."

  • “They loaded me before six in the morning, when I got on the bus here, Volha was already waiting in front of the barracks near Kaplický for them to take me to work. That didn't happen, they took me straight to Pastýřská. There they started writing the protocol that they wanted me to he signed for them that I would not take part in the demonstrations. When I didn't want to sign for them, they put me in custody here in Liberec. It was terrible there, because the prison service was really walking in the corridors with those muggles who were shouting. And some communist the janitor was yelling at me, making eyes at me, his vein stood out that he was looking forward to handing me over. After which he didn't hand me over, because I was there for a while, a couple of hours. After those hours, I don't know now if three or four hours, they took me to Děčín. I wasn't with anyone in any of the cars, I was alone everywhere. I don't know if it was completely according to the regulations, but I was alone everywhere. Even in Liberec and in Děčín. Well then I foolishly decided that I would go on a hunger strike, which I probably got over after a day or so. I was wondering why I would bother here. But in the meantime, they called a psychiatrist to say that I was crazy, that I didn't want to eat. But I ate it in the meantime and the psychiatrist came for no reason. And he also scolded them for making fun of him, that I normally ate and all.”

  • Celé nahrávky
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    v základní škole Kaplického v Liberci, 27.03.2017

    (audio)
    délka: 39:11
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu The Stories of Our Neigbours
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It was bearable, we had to bear it

Leoš Mayer
Leoš Mayer
zdroj: Pamět národa - Archiv

Leoš Mayer was born on June 2, 1964 and spent most of his life in Liberec. From a young age, he was interested in music, which for him meant rebellion and defiance of the communist regime. He first played in the rock group HRC and later in the underground UKD. In 1988, he and his wife signed Charter 77, and together with others in Liberec they printed and distributed leaflets and published the samizdat magazine Nakub. He had to go to interrogations several times a week and was sent to a pre-trial detention cell. Due to the situation in Czechoslovakia shortly before the Velvet Revolution, he and his wife thought about emigrating.