"I used to go to aerobics seminars. At around 5 pm, I walked down the Wenceslas Square and they were already demonstrating. The police was pressing us. I thought Damn, they might start rounding us, I don't want to get caught in this. I wanted to walk to the Muzeum metro station and get down to the underpass."
„It was after midnight, I’m sure, maybe it was even one in the morning. We went across the Šalda Square and there were the police all over the place. We were afraid that they would stop us because there were about seven of us in the car and we would paz a fine. Everyone was plastered except for the driver who had not drunk. We all thought that there was something going on because there were all those police officers around.“
"I never needed to worry about my job [...] nobody wanted to work there. I never worried that they would fire me. Some people joined the Communist party only so that they could keep their their warm spots. I never was in such a situation. I dared not to go to the First of May celebrations. I didn't go anyway."
I would not participate in the First of May celebrations
Milada Ester Koláčková was born on the 13th of June of 1947 in Ústí nad Orlicí. Due to her background, she was not allowed to study at a Gymnasium (top tier secondary school). She witnessed the August 1968 invasion of the Warsaw Pact armies in Liberec. She worked as a laboratory technician in the pathology department in the Liberec hospital and from 1982 on, she performed cytology tests. On the 28th of October in 1989, she witnessed a demonstration against the ruling régime on the Wenceslas’ Square in Prague. She participated in several students’ demonstrations at various universities. At the time of recording (2016), the witness lived in Prague.
This photograph was taken right on the first day of the occupation, on the 21th of August in 1968. It shows how closely people approached the soldiers and wanted to talk to them. (Source: Witness' archive)
This photograph was taken right on the first day of the occupation, on the 21th of August in 1968. It shows how closely people approached the soldiers and wanted to talk to them. (Source: Witness' archive)
