“They measured the number of hectares; I do not know how many hectares we had back then. And from one hectare you had to give I do not know how many tens or hundreds of eggs. For this reason, my mum had to buy them to meet the obligations because we did not have that many eggs. When we slaughtered a pig, we had to supply five kilos of rendered lard and the leather.”
“Well, I experienced Gottwald´s body in the coffin when his body was on display in Spanish Hall. Well, it was Saturday when he died, I do not know the date, but it was in March, and it happened on Saturday. And they called all of us to come to work immediately. And the procession led through a wide corridor to Spanish Hall and came out through the fourth courtyard. Well, we had to decorate the wide corridor with laurels and prepare a raw of flower decorations there. However, first the upholsterers had to cover it in black. And when they were almost done, Mr. Čepička came and said: 'Take the black down, it must be covered in red!' Consequently, we waited almost until midnight.”
“Except one thing. We had a meeting and he said: 'Comrades, it is not possible for the monetary reform to take place. It is not possible. Our currency is backed by labour and gold,' and crap like this. I came home and I told it to my parents and neighbours. And the monetary reform took place in the morning. He probably did not know about it! At least Jaroslav Procházka who was later the chairperson of Czech National Council told me. At that time, he was a clerk at the Castle, he used to go to the garden to train us who were not members of the Party. When I accompanied him to the gate and when he was locking it up, he told me: 'Václav, I also come from an evangelical family. My parents go to church in Vinohrady.' Thus, he told me that Zápotocký probably did not really know the monetary reform would take place the following day.”
“I was enlisted in 1954. I returned from the military service – I was a sergeant, a model soldier and that is why the unit sent a commendation to the Castle. The works council said: 'He will need to get dress, let us give him money.' Tonda (Antonín – trans.) also went to the meetings of the works council and he said: 'Comrades, I will give him something else. Something to keep him. Something to remember it his whole life.' And therefore, he gave me Barunka (a book written by A. Zápotocký – trans.) with an inscription. I still have it somewhere here.”
“I also experienced the Heydrich Terror. I was a little boy, and I was playing by our gate, and I suddenly heard shootings. So, I looked in the direction of the gunfire and smoke was billowing over the hill behind Dlážděnka (a park – trans.)! And horrible persecution followed. It was said that every tenth man from Prague 8 would be executed. Well and an officer and several soldiers were walking there with their guns pointed at parents and they were conducting a search of the flats, one flat after another. One flat after another, a wardrobe after wardrobe and they were even throwing away some things. It was a cruel experience for a six-or-seven-year-old boy for the lifetime.”
“I joined the party before the Russian occupation. They used to summon me to the office every day and used to push me into it. I was desperate. I went to see our priest and he told me: 'Do you know what? When they keep bossing you around like this, join it and you can do something there.' I became a candidate this way. Even though I told them I was religious. And they kept saying: 'You and your dad are expecting it (the regime) will fall!' That is what they used to tell me. There was Dubček, then the Russians came and invaded the Castle. I had a deputy there, František [Valuška]. The chairperson of the party was there, we went to see him, and I told him: 'Mr. Talpa, we would like to leave the party. We simply do not want to be in the party.' And he told us: 'Guys, do not pay the membership fees, I will play a charade, thank you for everything and you will be out of the party.' Well, nothing happened in three months. So, we went to see him again and Franta told him: 'Lojza, it has been three months and we are still members!' Talpa said: 'You idiots, you are still paying the membership fees!' We told him we were not. Mr. Burda was “a member confident,” or how they were called. And he, to be left alone, paid for it out of his own money. However, it was quite a lot of money, he paid 200 CSK for each of us. So, we went to see him, and I told him: 'Václav, we will not give you the money.' And he answered me: 'I am going to steal it from you when I am on duty.' So, we did not pay it from that time and Talpa hold a big meeting in three months. We came there and the administrator told me in front of everyone: 'You should change your mind; you have a family.' He told it to me in front of everyone. 'It is serious, you should change your mind. What is your reason for this?' – They wanted that from me. So, I said I was religious and could not be religious and a member of the party at the same time. That it was entirely incompatible to be an honest member of the party and honest Christian. Then I said: 'I believed the old party administration and I do not believe this one.' This is what I said them. I expected they would probably fire me. It was at the time of Mrs. Svobodová and Mrs. Svobodová really liked me. So, I said that, and they then wanted Franta to state his reasons. And – excuse my French – Franta said: 'Comrades, when I wanted the party to help me, if fucked with me. So, screw it now.' Imagine that we dared that back then. I felt quite confident because Svoboda still had a good position back then. He was still a reasonable President, he still thought, and he was competent to handle the job. Then it was a disaster. It did not work at all."
Václav Kefurt was born on 22 October 1934 in Troja in Prague to an agricultural and gardening family. The family were evangelical Christians, patriots, and members of the Sokol movement. He was instilled with strong moral values, and sense of responsibility and work since he was a child. He experienced house searches done by German soldiers after the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. On the contrary, during liberation of Prague by the Soviet soldiers he, his mother and brother were hiding in a shelter in the garden. He attended the last Sokol slet in 1948 where he together with the crowd chanted “Long live Beneš”. When he was sixteen years old, he started to train as a gardener in Prague Castle Gardens and he left them fifty years later as the head gardener. He met all presidents during his work in the Royal Garden, he also often met the first ladies. He remembers plainclothes police officers of “Madame” Marta Gottwaldová. (He remembers) the monetary reform in the time of scared Marie Zápotocká. (He remembers) the failure of the third five-year-plan at the time of comrade Božena Novotná in a fur coat. (He remembers) the occupation of the Castle by Soviet paratroopers at the time of “grandmother” Irena Svobodová. (He remembers) the ban on entering the Royal Garden under Gustav Husák. And (he also remembers) having breakfast with Václav Havel on the day of his retirement. During his work in the Royal Garden won over 280 medals in Czechoslovak and international botanical competitions. Václav Kefurt passed away on November, 20th, 2022.
