Marie Kroupová

"They'd come, I'd say my husband wasn't home; he was at work; and then children and I took off. I ran to a telephone booth, called my husband at the waterworks where he worked as a machinist at the time, and said they had come for him and were waiting for him. He said, 'Okay, I'll drive home and park in the backyard.' The house was facing the street like this, and it was long, with several entrances. It was a modern brick apartment building, built into a gap. There was this huge gate where you drove into the back yard, and behind the house were the garages. Our entrance to the yard was all the way on the other side of the long block, away our third floor apartment. My husband said, 'I'll be there in a half an hour.' So I said, 'Okay.' When he pulled into the yard, I sent Janek to go see if dad had arrived yet. We were looking from the balcony, waiting for him. As soon as I saw Dan with his little Fiat had arrived in the yard, one by one the kids went out with backpacks with their stuff, and Dan put them all in the little car. I was the last one to go with little Martin. We got in the car and just drove away. We saw the policemen sitting there in the car, waiting for Dan, and we drove merrily to Cholín. The kids were beside themselves with happiness."

"I was actually worried about my children all the time. The whole time after the Charter. The worst... nothing was as terrible as that quiet fear that always lingers on. For Dan, for the kids, because anything could happen anytime. It wasn't just us. It was everybody. Only people who thought they weren't going to show what was on their mind and were protecting themselves just marching along with the crowd - but this could happen to them at any time. Whoever fell from grace, they could always dig up something." - Teacher: "Were you ever in the situation where you had to be alone with the kids?" - "I wasn't, I didn't sign the Charter and Dan never got locked up, but there were two really nasty situations. One was when... they'd always come at five in the morning or so when they were arresting. Terrible kicking and pounding on the door. We both got out, and that was very funny, I must say. They came with two cars, parked outside the house, for one guy. One cop was downstairs, two were in the mezzanine, and three were banging on our door. When I opened the door, they started yelling at me to get my husband immediately... they wanted him to come with them. I said, 'Why?' and they said we'd find out. I tried to slam the door and one put his foot in the door. Terrible noise in the house, at five in the morning. In the end, I was so furious... see, I was never really scared at that point. I got really angry, like very angry. There were my little kids, and I was so angry. Then Dan came out, got his toothbrush, his shorts, his socks and left."

"I had a little baby and Martin Palouš came to our place with the Charter one evening. Dad signed it but we said I wouldn't sign anything. I had three children already. Janek was two and a half, Mikuláš was one and a half, and Martin was a newborn." - Teacher: "What do you think would have happened if you signed? What were you afraid of?" - "Well, not only would they have harassed me. We just said, one of us has to be with the kids. With three kids, you wouldn't take the risk. Not me, I couldn't do it and I've never been particularly brave. Dad was." - Granddaughter: "Did you agree when grandpa signed the Charter?" - "Sure I did. He would never have done that if I hadn't wanted him to." - Teacher: "Even though you suspected what would follow? Did you have any idea what would happen after?" - "Yes, a little bit, but not for the most part. The kind of hype they made about it at the beginning was basically a bit self-inflicted. The fact that the Charter got such publicity and such a frenzy around it. The Anti-Charter was signed, they forced many people to do it who had never seen it, never read it in their lives, yet they signed a paper they knew nothing about. They weren't stupid, they were smart people. Of course, they found it unnatural, stupid." - Teacher: "Do you blame them for signing the Anti-Charter? Or do you think it's possible some signed it just because they had to for some reason?" - "I think they had to. I felt more ashamed of the people who said afterwards that it wasn't really their fault, that they didn't know what they were signing. I'm sure they knew." - Teacher: "Some people said they thought they were signing an attendance sheet or what." - "I don't think that's true. I don't think it's possible; they must have known."