Stanislav Došlý

“What came to your mind when they pronounced the sentence?” “To put it plain, it really scared the hell out of me. I wanted to say something but they wouldn’t let me. I wanted to say that it’s not true what the charge said. But the judge, I forgot his name, wouldn’t let me.” “He spoke louder than you?” “He said that I did horrible things like plotting against the government and the regime.”

“We slept on plank beds in a crowded cell and we wore our working clothes, we had no other clothes to change to. And about the sleeping. We were divided into three shifts, so when one of the shifts was working, the other was sleeping and so on.” “And did you get enough food.” “It was better at the beginning, but then the ’red ones’ came, the state police. When there were prison guards in charge it was better. Then it got worse. And then you needed to get good working results. If you fulfilled the plan you got full ration. if not, you got less. I transported the material from the miners and as such I could never reach the plan. So my rations were always smaller.”

“It was strange. People went out in the streets, shouted some slogans but apart from that, nothing happened.” “What did you think at the time?” “I didn’t think it’s normal for the workers class to rule the country. Even though I am a worker myself, I definitely think that there are people who are more capable of organizing and planning and so on. Because, for example, a lot of my schoolmates said: ‘The foreman is an idiot.’ But they.”

“When the prisoner that worked with me escaped, I was interrogated, beaten and I lost hearing in one of my ears.” “How did it happen?” “He was pointing a gun at me and I kept on repeating that I didn’t know and then he hit me.” “How many times?” “Just once, but he struck me hard, right at the ear. And since then I one of my eardrums is damaged. I hurt like hell, but at that time we were happy that we live. I lost hearing for one ear and I am using a hearing aid for the other.”

“I got out of the train and there was the border patrol. I didn’t have the permission so I got the handcuffs and I was arrested.” “That was enough for the sentence?” “Yes, I did nothing else.” “So they arrested you near Železná Ruda…” “I was arrested one stop before. It was called Hojsova Stráž. It was enough that I got out of the train and didn’t have the permission. And the fact that I had a bag with things for the journey made it only worse. There was no discussion about it. They arrested me and that was it. And then the charge said that I was going to enter a foreign army and fight against the state and so on. I insisted that I only went for a trip,I didn’t admit that I was going to leave the country, but the charge didn’t change,”