Jaroslav Pleva

* 1939

  • "The State Security officers started: 'Does the name Blažek ring a bell?' I didn't know who he was talking about, but then I realized that I knew him under the nickname Starouš. The State Security officers wanted to bring him to court because he was a Boy Scout, he also had some parts for a transmitter and was allegedly a homosexual, which was a crime at the time. But I didn't know any of that. And the State Security officers continued: 'So write down here how he treated you...' 'But wait, I don't know anything about him,' I argued. And it started: 'We'll smash your face in, we'll show you, but you'll tell us the truth!' Well, I was scared, because I'd already been taught by my dad. I had to write some kind of statement, but I tried not to hurt that Starouš - he had treated me well, taught us Scout stuff, it was just perfect."

  • "They took my father away and then State Security officers I used to meet in Trutnov searched our house. I never saw such meticulousness in my life. They turned every shirt, every shirt inside out and examined it, including the seams. They put everything suspicious on the table. They put there the coins my mother bought for me, my cash box, my scout knives, my alarm gun... I heard about State Security men that they were such thieves that what they didn't steal, they didn't have. But I have to say that there was an older white-haired gentleman in charge, he was definitely not from Trutnov, he had some higher rank, and those guys couldn't even take a pin. They left absolutely everything there and moved on."

  • "When my dad was in custody, they made him a hall guard so he wouldn't be in the cell all the time. And somehow - it's almost a miracle - my mum arranged with the prison bosses that we could see my dad. We came to the prison, and there was this circular big room that seemed to open into the corridors to the cells. Dad was on the other side. They had warned him that we were coming there. He waved at us, jumped on the bars, did a pull-up, waved again and he had to leave."

  • “One member of the committee, comrade headmaster Šváb told me that they’d let me study the school if I renounce my dad. If I renounce my dad! Imagine that, it was terrible. I remember sitting there, sweat pouring down, I could feel the sweat trickling. A lot was at stake, my whole future life was at stake. When I heard that, I refused without a doubt, I said that Dad had taken exemplary care of his family his whole life, that I loved him, and that I could never renounce such a person! And I left.”

  • “Someone rang. Because the flat was always locked, so we wouldn’t be taken by surprise. I went to open the door. It burst open. There were two stetsecs [State Security officers - trans.] with pistols in hand. They charged into the room, where they only saw Mum and me, so they charged into the kitchen - because they were no doubt familiar with the plan of the flat. Dad was standing by the stove. I rushed in behind the two stetsecs. I can see it as if it was today. They were aiming their pistols at Dad. ‘Hands up! Hands up!’ they yelled. Dad said: ‘Is this necessary?’ Well, it was. They handcuffed him, of course, and took him away.”

  • “Either we wouldn’t let the person in and we’d deal with the matter in the corridor outside, or if he had to go into the room or the kitchen, we tried to keep him inside the room. We had a big cupboard in the kitchen. There was some space behind it, where Dad stood and hid. It always worked out. Grandma had a bed in the kitchen - we lived there with our grandma. One time, that was that time when Kolařík was there, just imagine, when Kolařík stormed in and we couldn’t get Dad out, Grandma - his mother-in-law - tucked him into the bed. The whole time that bastard ripped through our clothes and so on, that whole time, Dad was tucked into the bed.”

  • Celé nahrávky
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    Vrchlabí, 21.02.2017

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    délka: 03:21:23
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of 20th Century
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    Vrchlabí, 21.02.2023

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    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Příběhy regionu - HRK REG ED
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My father hid from communist imprisonment for five years in the attic

Photo from youth, around 1959
Photo from youth, around 1959
zdroj: Witness´s archive

Jaroslav Pleva was born on 6 November 1939. His parents at that time owned the company Sběrné suroviny (a scrapyard) in Hradec Králové. The family lived in a small house on the premises of the scrapyard. Sběrné suroviny prospered until 1948, when the communists nationalized the company. The witness‘s father was then accused of stealing national property. He spent several months in custody. Later, the court changed his initially short sentence to two years in prison and a heavy fine. His father did not want to serve the sentence and hid at home from 1951 to 1956. This fact deeply affected the life of the whole family, including Jaroslav Pleva; not only at that time, but also throughout the entire duration of the communist regime. The witness wanted to study civil engineering, but because his father was inconvenient person to the regime, he was not admitted to the school. After completeing his militar service, while working, he managed to finish the evening construction technical school and graduated from this secondary school. After graduation he was promoted and headed the construction department in Texlen Trutnov. In the following years he had several jobs and worked for twenty-four years as head of the investment department at the Krkonoše National Park Administration. He refused offers to join the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. In 1966 he married and he and his wife raised two children. In 2023 he was living in Vrchlabí. We were able to record his story thanks to support from the ŠKODA AUTO Foundation.