Ing. Hynek Jurman

"Two months passed, I read Sport, Rudé právo (t/n: Red Law – communist newspaper) was piling up, I practically didn't open it much and after two months I went to unsubscribe from both. The postmaster told me that it was not possible to unsubscribe from Rudé právo. So I waited until she was on vacation, there was a substitute for her, and suddenly it was no problem to unsubscribe the newspaper. Of course, I got into conflict with my superiors. My misdemeanours piled up. My brother was getting married and I got a small cross around my neck from my parents for my graduation and I never wore it until then. I didn't take it to my military service, I kept it in a box. But when my brother was getting married I put the cross around my neck and I kept it there. It was in July. It was hot and I was walking around with my shirt open. It took them four days to call me to the director's office where he scolded me, 'you're wearing a cross, and you unsubscribed from Rudé právo. I was going to offer you a raise, but now you get nothing."

"I have an experience with my uncle Adolf, because he came to visit us in August of 1968. He had close relatives in Brno and he came to Štěpánov to visit his birthplace that was the house where we lived. He came to visit us on the afternoon of 20 August 1968. I saw him for the first time. And as he went around the village having a welcome drink with everyone, he was already in such an 'elated mood'. His daughters stayed in Brno then, he came only with his wife, the English woman, she was driving. Adolf got into a good mood, had a drink with my father and left for Brno in the evening of 20 August. And his daughter told us many years later, he was drunk when he came home, so he went to sleep. At two o'clock at night his niece's husband, an officer, came in and said, 'The Russians are here, get out of here."