Radomír Burša

“In my first phase of practice in Tatra Kopřivnice I met the People's Militia face to face. Until then, I only knew from the civics that it was a kind of armed fist of the working class, but that was all. Then I saw the uniforms of the People's Militia at the gatehouse when I went to work, sometimes also in the workshops. I was asking myself: “What is it?”. I once found out that it will not be Militiamen who will guard, but some civil defense unit, because the People's Militia have a shooting practice. I asked why they were going to shoot, for God's sake. They said that if it was necessary to defend the factory. I laughed at that time, but the laughter was gone quiet quickly when I saw a marching wall of people with rifles over their shoulders getting into the trucks. There were also my colleagues.”

“Water, a hallway, toothbrushes, floor scrubbing, yelling, hard nudges. Less resistant guys had their elbows and knees beaten up in blood. I managed to protect myself from a visible injury. The yelling and the huge pressure was terrible. The following days, I observed that older soldiers, so-called “Mazáci”, worked off their anger or a mental disorder on those who suffered the most. There was nothing to be done about it. It was clear that if someone told professional soldiers, it would be a huge trouble. Gradually, I realized that it was impossible for the “Lampasák” (military officers) not to know. If they were interested, they would solve it. However, it probably belonged to the point. With a self-denial, I suffered my own troubles, and over the time these older soldiers stopped paying attention to me. They needed to see the expression of suffering and tremendous fear, and they did not receive it even though they got tougher. Then, suddenly, I got some peace, compared to others who were experiencing it more intensively.”