JUDr. Mojmír Konečný

“I spent the last 16 years of my career at the trade department of the French embassy. It was a very comfortable position. I liaised with all the ministries and the central monopoly office. I would also receive French ministers visiting Czechoslovakia. When they came to Czechoslovakia, I would tour the country with them, most often taking them to Slušovice. We would also take care of French businessmen coming to Czechoslovakia. That was our role, to put these people in touch with the Czechoslovak companies.”

“As you’ve said yourself, this resistance organization was composed of Scouts, but it progressively snowballed to become a much greater organization. I also have to add that it was the only resistance organization that had not been discovered by the Germans. It had its own system of concealment. For instance, its members would only two other members and nobody else. It was my contribution, for example, that I came across a German probing of the sewage system of the Charles Bridge. The Germans wanted to blow it up. I immediately reported my findings and was congratulated for it. In this way, the Germans could be prevented from realizing their intention.”

“The negotiations of the Czech national council, headed by professor Pražák, and the German military commander Toussaint, who was looking for his son all over Prague. However, there were actually two German armies in Prague – the Wehrmacht and the SS. The Czech national council was scared of negotiating with the SS as the SS was rather ruthless, shooting everyone who dared to negotiate for surrender. As it was so dangerous, the council asked the International Red Cross to negotiate on its behalf. They turned to Mr. Motodor for help. As a delegate of the Red Cross, he was not in a position to do this. Thus he authorized me and two fellow young people to take charge of the negotiations. The reason why he turned to me was that I spoke brilliant German. The others didn’t. We were taken to the SS command that had found its seat at the law faculty in a truck that was designated with a red cross. In spite of this, we were shot at. Then, we were taken to their commanding officers and on a map of Prague, we determined the routes to be taken by the retreating German troops. They were to take the Plzeňská ulice Street and the Karlovarská ulice Street as they naturally wanted to surrender to the Americans. These streets were to be cleared of any barricades so that they could leave freely. They were allowed to take their light guns but had to leave all heavy arms behind. This is what later happened. They set out in the morning and moved out of the city. However, in the end, their evacuation was blocked by the Soviets.”

“When I came back, I had to show up at the department that was vetting the ‘cadre’ background of the ministry’s staff. I was surrounded by youngsters. These were the new working-class cadres that had recently come to the ministry. They enthusiastically told me: ‘Comrade, tell us about China. We now have China on our side as well and India will surely follow her soon. In a short time, our banner will be flying high there as well’. To which I replied: ‘You know, it’s not quite as simple as that with China. It’s one of the poorest countries on the planet. Before it advances to a certain level, it’ll take a bit of time. At least ten five-year plans’. This was the turning point. They wrote me off. Together with the old cadres, I was told to voluntarily leave the ministry, after about a year that I had spent in the very unpleasant company of the new working-class cadres there. I went to work to a factory.”