Ladislav Havrda

"And the events of August 21st came. That was 1968. We were trekking in the Bohemian Paradise and we had friends who then made the film with us from the occupation. This was filmed from the window of my hometown. This is the entry of invading troops. So I have to say that we didn't believe the warning that might come. And Vlasta Macků, he was the brother of our cameraman, he said: 'Guys, there were Russians, there were Poles, there was the Warsaw Pact and they are concentrated abroad. That doesn't look well. They're just waiting for us here.' He then ended up in Canada, the Vlasta Macků. And August 21st was approaching, we had no idea. Normally a working day. At night, planes began to rumble, there was much noise and armoured vehicles began to pass by. There were no tanks in the first phase. They were armoured vehicles, similar to the BVP as we have today. And in the morning, when we got up, we found out that the army clogged up Skalice. Then there was a break, because a barricade was built in Náchod. So my friend Jirka Skořepa and I went there to see, because he was older and it was something terrible, because Náchod literally resisted, people didn't let them in there. It was burning at ČSAD, it was terrible. So, we came back and we immediately decided to remove the traffic posts here. At the instigation of the staff who worked here in Skalice, so it was organized very quickly. There was a huge tension. And we took down maps everywhere at the station. And when we took off the road signs, they called us, there was a staff at the city's national committee, here in the square, and there they told us, 'Boys! Tanks are coming from Náchod! Get out of here! ”So we hid the pliers, everything, and the tanks were already rolling. It was terrible. Racket. Much noise. People didn't know what was going on. The bridge was occupied by the army. At the museum - the curbs were refuting there. That's probably how I experienced the beginning of the occupation here, which was in 1968."

"Since 1957, I went to a school in Česká Skalice, and there I was taught by Mrs. Kotlandová, but we also had Mr. Krtička, who was an excellent person and director of the Božena Němcová Museum. And one day, before Christmas, he came to our class and at that time he played carols on violin. That date was interesting because it was in 1959, and then suddenly Mr. Krtička literally disappeared from school and at first we didn't know what was going on… we knew something was going on in Skalice… but there? This has gone so far that the town hall has been disbanded in my street and weapons have been found in that town hall, which Mr Krtička allegedly gathered there in order to unleash a counter-revolution and speak out against the communist regime. Which was not true. We haven't seen Mr. Krtička since then, though we liked him very much. And Mr. Krtička and others convicted, such as Mr. Jiřička, General Kolařík, who was also from Český Skalice, and Mr. Příbrzský, they were all severely punished for high treason and sentenced for about twenty-two years or so unconditionally. And then came the year 1962, which was an amnesty, and they were set free. And although Mr. Krtička was the founder of the Božena Němcová Museum, was not allowed in the museum, and even forbidden to work in culture. And when the old school and the exhibition opened, he was not allowed to attend. And I took part in this as a little boy, and we wondered who knew if we would see Mr. Krtička. And my dad poked me and said yes, he's over there, and the cops were already there, taking him away. It was terribly depressing. And that has been the case since I was becoming adult and making more sense of things.”