Jan Zich

* 1966

  • "From the 1930’s until the WWII, my grandpa run the farm. He was quite progressive and it went well although his farm was not the largest in the village. It was the most forward one, though. Then the war came, after the war, everyone was happy that the Soviets liberated us, I know that grandpa joined the Communist party for about half a year but he rescinded his membership just after second party meeting because it became known what the Communist did in Russia. Even though they had proclaimed that they would never touch the farmers’ property, then the collectivisation came. In our family, there was not much of a debate aabout that but as dad told me, grandpa had been one of the last farmers who “voluntarily” signed the handover and transferred his farm for the use of the co-op. And I think that it was even in some newspapers that this farmer joined the co-op.”

  • “I wouldn’t deny that he was authoritative [Miroslav Richter, the leader of the Community of Saint Gorazd and Companions] but to call it a sect, well, I don’t think so. The thing is, there was not much of a plurality in what to do, where to shift, it was not really possible. I didn’t know about many things because as we are talking about how the Communist structures disliked the community, there were some contacts with the underground Church, those were primarily Mirek’s contacts, many of us did not ever learn about this. About some coordination about services, prayer meetings or other events… So, I cannot even imagine that there would be much of a discussion how to deal with this. But, it was not that way that everyone will do what I say, it wouldn’t be like this. Maybe someone could feel this way but I did not.”

  • “Until I was about ten, I lived in a small village, at a farm, which was used to raise pigs for the local agricultural coop. Most of the time when we were not at school, we would run around the yard, with parental supervision or without, and we helped with various chores around the house. We raised all sorts of animals, chicken, sheep, and we helped mowing feed or turning grass or we did other tasks. And as it was indeed a small village, there was no other passtime, no youth union, no clubs. We used to go to school in the next village, about six kilometres away where we would go by bus.”

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    Brno, 26.10.2021

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Fit in, not to stand out

Jan Zich as a child, with his father Jan. 1969
Jan Zich as a child, with his father Jan. 1969
zdroj: archiv pamětníka

JJan Zich was born on the 21th of November in 1966 in Hustířany near Náchod. He and his two siblings grew up at the family farm which was nationalised by the Communists and incorporated into the local Unified Agricultural Cooperative. Jan’s family never actively opposed the ruling régime but despite that, he himself felt manipulation and pressure that life in a totalitarian country would bring. As a child, he had to withstand being ridiculed from the teachers because he would attend religion classes. Later, he was strongly influenced by the Community of Saint Gorazd and Companions, which he joined. Under the Communist rule, this community strove to spread knowledge about the Eastern Christianity in the tradition of St. Constantine and Methodius. At the same time, some community members participated in various anti-Communist activities. The head of the community, Miroslav Richter (who later became witness’ brother-in-law) was under constant surveillance of the secret police. Many witnesses describe the activities of the community as Christian dissent. From today’s view and in connection with the stories of the times of the Communist rule in Czechoslovakia, the sectarian leadership seems to be somewhat questionable. In 1990, Jan Zich married his wife, Iva, and they have three children.