Evžen Gál

"There was such a big event. The Hungarians made it in such an interesting cultural place. There is an old ship on the Danube, a Soviet ship even, the A38, and there are excellent concerts there, such alternative culture is still presented there. They organized a show called My City there. The cultural programme meant that they always invited somebody interesting, known by all Hungarians, some person, and they set a programme for a week: what they like. What they like to watch, what they like to listen to, what they read, what they eat, what they drink. There is a big restaurant there, so then they cooked according to that. His [Václav Havel´s] cook, Mrs. Čirinová, was Hungarian, so she prepared the menu. Of course, Plastic People came with Havel, Chytilová was there, David Černý was there, because we brought one of his baby sculptures on the boat to Budapest for the occasion. It was an absolutely fantastic evening, with Havel there and his friend, György Konrád, a Hungarian writer, who died recently. He was a sort of the eminent Hungarian dissident, they knew each other well, they saw each other often, I even interpreted for them, because when Havel was president, maybe in the beginning, he behaved more freely than later. He could afford to do things that he didn't do later, that he went to the pub in the evening. That wasn't quite possible later."

"I was even at the trial that took place, with the Hungarian young people who spoke... who asked for forgiveness from Czechoslovakia on the 20th anniversary of the Warsaw Pact occupation of Czechoslovakia, then in '88, in August. There were five Hungarians in Wenceslas Square at the time, filming it, and they were reading the letter of apology. Tamás Deutsch, who is today a Fidesz MEP, he was condemned and expelled from the country. And when their trial took place, I went with the Hungarian journalists to interpret and the whole Czech dissent was there. As they came in, the prisoners were led into the courtroom and the dissidents applauded them, and it was all being filmed. Or I co-organized Hutka's performance in Budapest, so somewhere, in some records, I must have been listed. But we always did that, always... Actually, we lived in such a way that we used to say: 'We're parents, we have to... not both of us.' I used to go, my wife... The only time we were together was at the demonstration in Škroupovo Square. That was at the occasion of human rights on December 10, and that was also in 1988. Havel wasn't in prison then, so Havel was speaking there. So we were there. We were there together."