František Hron

"The year 1970 came and after the last camp we [Scouts] were dissolved. We were told that we could either go to Pioneer organization or just do nothing. Our leader Bohdan said no. So we officially divided up the things that were left, like tents, as rewards, so that we wouldn't have to give them to Pioneer groups. And we were dissolved. Actually, I had a folded tent at home for twenty years, interlaid with newspapers."

"I remember 1968, when my mother woke me up in the morning and said: 'Franta, get up, we are at war.' We turned on the TV and they said to keep calm. We were still living in Komenská Street. Then, on the evening of 22 August, they [occupation soldiers] came to Jihlava for the first time. They ran over a boy in front of the library on the square. This has turned out into a legend. It is said he jumped on the first soldier's barrel and the next one [tank] ran him over. But I know he was taken to the hospital. We don't know what really happened. Then, when we woke up next morning, there was a tank in Komenská Street, facing the square. At that time, my sister and I didn't understand what might happen to us, so we started signing various leaflets, we were wearing tricolours, and since we still could speak Russian quite well, we were trying to explain something to them [soldiers]. They just said it was a counter-revolution. If they had started shooting, we could have paid for it, too. They would not shy away from anything."