Václav Skala

* 1940

  • "Then when he got into the leadership, and he became the president, well, we were all completely... It reminded me of 1968, when that spring with Dubček, that wonderful enthusiasm, suddenly life again... One had something to live for again. He had a zest for life. It was the same when Havel got... it was incredible when Havel became president. We didn't believe it was possible. Because the Communists were still fighting it, they didn't want to give up that power - Čalfa, they were still trying to hold on."

  • "I remember the eighty-ninth - how it started. When people heard that it was falling in Russia and that it was allowed to loosen, they got a little bit more emboldened, but... At night - I always remember when I went to work in the morning, the statue of Wenceslas on Wenceslas Square was covered... The whole statue was covered with pictures of Masaryk and various statements. I have that here. I brought that. And by Masaryk, there were flowers. They did it secretly. People were still afraid. I remember that before it broke out, I was walking from work one day around Wenceslas Square, and there were water cannons in the back. I saw that they were everywhere. When I walked past, there were cars full of soldiers, and Wenceslas Square was empty. People were afraid to gather. Only when things started to loosen up in Russia suddenly, when I was walking home from work the next day, everything disappeared. It was really overrun. They would have wiped out any demonstrations with ease. It was all troops, all around. Wenceslas Square was empty, but all around, there were cars on the side streets. It was packed with troops and militia. And then suddenly, they got the order. They disappeared, and the people took to the streets. It was clear by then that they were not allowed to take violent action against the people - perhaps Gorbachev had given the order."

  • "We were walking around outside in Dejvice, and there the soldiers had tents outside, in the square, everywhere, and they stacked up piles of straw and set up their tents on top of that. They were lying there in the dirt. The soldiers were rolling around all over the straw. I had Kiev, my camera, and my wife and I were walking down the street next to them, and there was a group walking toward us - it was some officer with two or three soldiers, armed. I wanted to flaunt in front of my future wife what a brave man I am, so I pulled out this Kiev, and I wanted to take a picture of them. My hands were shaking, they were coming towards us, and they had guns. So I was trying to take pictures here, and the officer came up to me and pointed to the camera, and I said (I knew Russian), 'Chto chotitya, požalujsta?' And he told me that I forgot to take the cover off the camera. And they went on again. Well, we laughed about it, but unfortunately, I don't have the picture. I mean the tent site of those... tents, that straw, those piles of potatoes or whatever, I didn't dare..."

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    Praha, 28.10.2021

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Sometimes they made bread cheaper, and that‘s how they maintained their power

Václav Skala in 2021
Václav Skala in 2021
zdroj: Memory of nations archive

Václav Skala was born on 28 January 1940 in Prague into the family of a wealthy businessman with wood veneers. Despite the traumatic experiences of the war, he has happy memories of his childhood. However, the family‘s well-being did not last long. The witness‘s father died when he was five years old, and shortly afterward, the family lost all their property during nationalization. It was difficult to support the family. Due to his cadre background, he could not devote himself to art, which had always attracted him, and he apprenticed as a gardener. During military service, he devoted himself to meteorology, but his promising career was ended by the emigration of both his siblings, so he could forget a meaningful professional career. Nevertheless, he managed to graduate from the Václav Hollar secondary art night school. After the revolution in 1989, his lifelong wish came true, and he devoted himself to art in the theater. In 2021, Václav Skala lived in Prague.