Martin Šmíd

* 1970

  • "They were still afraid, the cops, that someone would do something to me. That some students might come and convince me. Or that I might get knocked up afterwards. So I know that in the neighborhood where my parents lived, or where we lived, there are all family houses, there were policemen on every other corner. That time my sister came home from some dancing in the morning, some training she had - and that she had to... that they wouldn't even let her go home. No, they wanted to let her go, of course, but she had to tell them who she was and why she was going there, to our house. And then they said they'd keep an eye on me, it was Sunday, and they'd keep an eye on me somehow. And my father knew this one criminal from Beroun from somewhere, or I don't know. So he said that if he was there, they could sleep in our living room. So they were there in the living room until the morning, and in the morning I was brought to Prague, in a civilian car, unmarked, by Public Security at that time. To Malá Strana, that was one of our classrooms, on Malostranské Square. I arrived there and there was already a demonstration. At that point I don't know if I was followed, I think maybe for a few more days, but basically... they told me not to go anywhere, so I didn't go anywhere for about two days, and then on Wednesday I went to the demonstration on Wenceslas Square and I went wherever I wanted."

  • "At that time Petr Holubec - I didn't know him yet, he was still an unknown editor, but his father Vít Holubec was a well-known editor - and Petr Holubec, at that time perhaps working in some regional newsroom in Kladno, came to the police. And from there they took me in a sixty-thirteen to my house nicely, and there they prepared the shooting. My mother said - stop, he'll shave first, he won't go on TV like that. They convinced her that it must be on the news in an hour, because the whole nation was waiting for it. So they waited for me to shave, then they filmed me and by 7:30 I was the first news. You must have seen that somewhere else, so you know... That there was information on the western ones that I was dead. They put the footage of me on. And then after that there was a spot with my namesake that was shot in the cafeteria at the Dormitory on November 17."

  • "Nothing really happened on Saturday either. I went out for a beer somewhere and my parents went to a dance. Only my sister stayed home. And I got there the night before the parents did. There was a paper somewhere by the door or at the entrance to wake her up. So I woke her up and I said, 'What's wrong?' 'Some girl from Prague called and the cops are looking for you.' I said, 'What did they want?' 'I don't know,' so I went to sleep. My parents came back later because they were at a dance somewhere. I guess they found some other paper or I threw mine away wrong, I don't know, they read the paper, they woke up my sister, they woke me up, what did I do. Only on Sunday morning, when nothing was going on, suddenly the phone rang: 'A girl from Prague is calling you.' And it was a classmate who just called me that my parte was hanging in Prague, or rather a parte with the name Martin Šmíd. And that they allegedly killed him. And because at that time there were two of the same name, the same age, two Martins Šmíds at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, I thought... and we knew each other, and the girl knew him, the other one - so we thought: 'Poor guy, they must have killed him there.'"

  • Celé nahrávky
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    Praha, 22.05.2023

    (audio)
    délka: 43:08
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the 20th Century TV
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The rumor of his death fueled the revolution

Martin Šmíd at the time of graduation, 1988
Martin Šmíd at the time of graduation, 1988
zdroj: Archive of a witness

Martin Šmíd was born on 27 January 1970 in Beroun. After graduating from high school in 1988, he started studying at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University. He was not politically involved and did not take part in the student parade on 17 November 1989, which ended in a brutal crackdown by the forces on Národní třída. Nevertheless, his name is inextricably linked with the history of the Velvet Revolution. It was the rumour of the death of the „Matfyz student“ Martin Šmíd that gave it a significant impetus. On Sunday, 19 November, a witness learned that his picture was „hanging in Prague“. On the same day, criminal and state police came to his home to investigate. He then filmed a spot for Czechoslovak Television in which he confirmed that he was alive - just like his namesake and schoolmate; two Martin Šmíds were studying at Matfyz at the time. The police then apparently guarded the witness for several days. The officers spent the night from Sunday to Monday in the living room of the Šmíds and on Monday morning they took the young student to school. There, however, a strike was already underway, which he then joined. After the revolution he returned to his studies, finally graduating from the Faculty of Agriculture in 1988. Martin Šmíd worked with computers and led a happy life. In 2023 he lived in Beroun.