Pavel Jirásek

* 1961

Svědci lokálních událostí z éry komunismu
1. 1. 1977 - Declaration of Chart 77, 17. 11. - 29. 12. 1989 - The Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, 17. 4. 1969 – A. Dubček’s resignation, start of the “normalisation” period, 17. 11. 1989 - Demonstration at Národní třída
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    They carried literature in washing powder boxes

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    duration: 00:52
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    "They carried it mainly in washing powder boxes. Inger-Ma [Gabrielsen], she knew how to do it perfectly. She poured out the powder, weighed it to the grams. She used a razor blade to cut off the top, the tear strip was left there, and stuffed it inside with newspapers and literature. She covered the top with the powder again, weighed it exactly to match, and then glued the top so you couldn't see it at all. You shook it, there was powder. There weren't many good powders here then, so when they came here for six months, they'd take maybe twenty boxes of washing powder."

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    A special relationship developed between students of Norwegian language and Norwegians

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    duration: 00:29
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    "There was a special relationship between the students of Norwegian language, who were not so many, and the people who came here from Norway. Because the Czech students didn't have much opportunity to practice the language. Except when they got to go on the trip. There was no Norwegian lecturer. And so, they got together and formed some relationships that last to this day."

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    I won't join the Party

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    duration: 00:47
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    "When they came to me later, when I was about twenty-five, to join the party, at first you pretended you were stupid and told them you didn't feel up to it, that you had some other problems, that you had to solve them first to delay it. Then it hit me that this was complete bullshit. I went to the head of the union at the time and said: 'Look, I don't agree with the Communist Party's policy and I will never agree with people like Biľak and co. I won’t join the Party.' And what? It was the year eighty-six and they didn't tear my head off, nothing happened to me. I could have continued to work in the ČKD, no big win."

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    I grew up on the Voice of America and Free Europe

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    duration: 00:42
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    "For me, communism ended completely on 21 August 1968. We formed such a definite opinion, even that group of little children, that I never got over it. I never – I don't want to say came to terms with it, I never wanted to came to terms with it – I never changed my mind about it. That opinion that I had when I was eight years old still sticks with me to this day. I grew up listening to the Voice of America and Free Europe, and other people watched some Dietl, but I preferred to listen to this ‘seditious’ broadcast."

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    Praha, 04.04.2023

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    duration: 01:36:30
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I am happy to have been part of it

Pavel Jirásek, 2023
Pavel Jirásek, 2023
photo: Post Bellum
photo: Post Bellum
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Pavel Jirásek was born on 24 June 1961 in Trutnov. He spent his childhood in nearby Úpice. His mother was a practicing Catholic. In order to avoid problems as a teacher, the family went to mass in nearby towns and villages where they did not know her. He lived through the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops while on holiday in Yugoslavia. Despite offers to emigrate, they returned to Czechoslovakia. In 1976, the witness entered the Secondary Industrial School of Electrical Engineering in Dobruška. In 1980 he successfully graduated and entered the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague. In 1984 he got married. His wife Jitka, a student of Norwegian and German, introduced him to Norwegians who were studying in Prague. Some of them brought banned literature from Scandinavia as part of Norwegian aid to Czechoslovak dissidents. Pavel and Jitka Jirásková helped distribute it. In the second half of the 1980s he worked at ČKD, where he refused to join the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ). He participated in the demonstration on 17 November 1989, escaping an intervention on Národní třída. After the fall of the regime, he served as director of the Czech Association of Museums and Galleries at the Ministry of Culture. He lived in Norway for seven years. In 2023 he lived in Prague.

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