František Janačík

“All of a sudden, these two GAZ cars showed up. And maybe a half of our command got out, followed by our political officer. Unfortunately, I don´t remember his name, as he was transferred to our unit from somewhere. The word was that they did it as a punishment, as he was a heavy drinker, and he was drunk even on the day they came to our unit. In fact, they came to explain us that the political conditions began to take concrete shape, so we should be able to deal with it, as we were especially vulnerable as soldiers and could be influenced by spies sent by Western powers. So we should be vigilant and we have to watch out for everybody, especially for all those dissidents. And if we had ever heard about this Havel, he was the one we should be wary of in the first place. 'If you would spot him lurking somewhere behind a fence, for example, you must report him immediately!' So it was quite absurd as we were standing in our quarters, just four of us, surrounded by those six or seven men. And they would be telling us those absurd ideas of theirs to our faces, standing just about two meters away. We were trying not to laugh and we were telling them: 'Sure, we will keep an eye on Havel and all those dissidents and of course we will report them immediately.' And the drunken political officer would tell us: 'But you need also to know how to defend yourself, boys!' - 'What do you mean?' - 'Well, you need to know some basic judo moves, or karate.' - 'We don´t know anything like that.' - 'So let me teach you!' And as he was drunk, he would choose one of our colleagues. And he told him: 'Try to attack me with a knife.' So he tried and the officer missed and fell over. And as he was getting up, he told us: 'That´s the way you have to protect yourself in every situation. Let me show you one more wrestling move I know,' and for maybe an hour, he would do this sketch, falling over and over again as we were trying not to laugh.'