Ivan Zwach

* 1952

  • “They insisted on getting me to work as an auxiliary police guard, so they wanted to catch me doing something wrong, so I had to sign cooperation, which I kept refusing. It took about a month. A policeman in uniform was following my every step, which obviously was discrediting me amongst people, as they didn’t have a clue why he keeps asking me from behind and I look like I don’t see nor hear him. Every day he followed me to my flat. Every day he waited for me in front of the museum, he took the same bus and accompanied me on my way from the bus stop.”

  • “My father was a founding member of the communist party of the Slovakia. He organised a guerrilla against fascists in Bílé Karpaty. As a ranger he had an ideal position and a knowledge of the forests so they could never catch him there. Nevertheless one of his communist comrades’ betrayed him during war, but not long before the end. Fascists caught him, took him to prison, where the broke all long bones in his body and tortured him. During his catching they also shot him in the head, but the bullet didn’t go that far, only to damage sight nerve so he could barely see anymore. Well imagine, it is the end of war and you´re about to enforce your rights. As his bones healed badly, he could hardly walk at all. He asked for a retirement pension and he was told not to entitled to do so, but if he was a guerrilla he ought to approach a comrade on the second floor to write you a confirmation you got into this state due to torture and suffering for the communist party and your nation and they will surely give you a proper pension. And the high functionary, was the one who betrayed him to the fascists.”

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    Praha - Thomayerova nemocnice, 04.11.2015

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Certain people expected me to take revenge on the communists, who were bullying me all those years long, but they punished themselves in fact

Ivan Zwach - 1979
Ivan Zwach - 1979
zdroj: archiv pamětníka

Ivan Zwach was born on 12 June, 1952 in Rýmařov as Ivan Marieník. His father was a ranger in Bílé Karpaty and a founding member of the communist party of Slovakia. He organised guerrilla movement against the fascists and due to post-war conflict with the secret police he was forced to immigrate to Bohemia. In 1954 the secret police came for Ivan and his siblings and placed them without any official decision of authorities to children shelters all over the republic. Ivan was adopted and given a surname Zwach. His adoptive mother and he carried a negative cadre profile until the fall of communism. A regional committee of the communist party decided that Ivan would not attend the secondary school, but studied the agriculture training centre, where he specialised as a tractor driver. After a year of studies a director secured his application to the secondary agriculture technical school. During 1972-1974 he served military service, although he was not meant to be recruited at all. He was forced to enter the communist party or a cooperation with the secret police. After military service worked at the farm in Janovice near Rýmařov, and then the museum in Bruntál offered him a position of the nature protector. He became the single member of the Academy of Science with a secondary school education. During his activity in the field of biology he first applied a biological-ecologic monitoring of constructions linear and flat, he published several books and is an author of a biological evaluation. After the revolution he worked as a spokesperson of the Civic Forum in Stará Ves; today he is a freelancer in a sector of the nature protection.