Tomáš Mitáček

* 1968

  • "It's capitalism, because there you create some surplus value, which then stays with you and you develop the business. It is pragmatic in that (and this is what I think capitalism is good for) that the person who is goal-oriented, hardworking, thinks about it and has a little luck, so he applies himself in a fairly large and complex market. Contrary to what had been hammered into my head: to everyone according to his merits. But when you looked at it in reality, everyone was demotivated, there was nothing and you had to demand everything. It was very humiliating that there was nothing anywhere, and if there was anything, it was of poor quality."

  • "I faced the greatest psychological pressure when I participated in Palach's week in Prague. And it was about 1988 [in 1989]. We walked through the cordon and we were supposed to enter the Old Town Square from a certain street (not Melantrichova). I was not quite in the first rows, but probably in the tenth or fifteenth row, but you could see that there were armored personnel carriers standing on the Old Town square, they had water cannons and they were mowing down the first rows. When I drove home, I spent another week wondering if there was any point in being in the world. That all is lost if such repression can work against own people. That's how it affected me.'

  • "I only experienced the absurdity of that system in the secondary grammar school. As a pioneer, one was supposed to move on and become a member of the Czechoslovak Socialist Youth Union. At that time, I had it in my head that I refused to become the member. After that, my classmate came and she explained it to me absolutely clearly. She said something to the effect of, 'Fuck what it means to you, at the end of the day it's about getting a book like the member with your name on it and paying membership fees once a year and sticking two stamps in there. And if you don't agree to it, then you can immediately go to the principal's office and terminate your studies at this secondary grammar school, because without it no one will function here.' I did not take it as a threat on her part, but as a statement, because she herself was in the Communist Party. And over time I understood that she was there so that she could protect us."

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Brno, 01.02.2022

    (audio)
    délka: 01:13:56
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Příběhy regionu - JMK REG ED
  • 2

    Brno, 03.02.2022

    (audio)
    délka: 02:12:11
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Příběhy regionu - JMK REG ED
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

What helps us best is what hangs from our shoulders: our own hands and head

Tomáš Mitáček in 1997
Tomáš Mitáček in 1997
zdroj: Archive of the witness

Tomáš Mitáček was born on May 6, 1968 in Kyjov. Shortly after the August invasion in 1968, his father was expelled from the Communist Party. Tomáš spent his childhood in Veselí nad Moravou. In 1982, he entered the secondary grammar school in Strážnice. After graduation, he continued his studies at the University of Agriculture in Brno. In January 1989, he took part in demonstrations as part of the Palach Week in Prague. He actively participated in the events during the November days of the same year. He spent these days in Veselí nad Moravou as well as in Prague. He successfully completed his studies at the university in 1991. A year later, together with Johannes Gutmann, he founded the Czech version of the Austrian company Sonnentor, which focuses on the production of organic teas and spices. He worked in this company as an executive until 2008 and then handed over the management of the company. In 2022 he lived in Čejkovice.