Josef Malina

Distinctive faces were there. I have called it the first wave, for myself. And this is actually the first wave of those people who signed up for it in that theater. Plus in a few days some more came. In the first wave, there were people who, for example, knew about each other, they had some idea about each other, they knew that they could rely on each other. From this first wave, people were selected either for the district national committee or for the mayor to the city's national committee. And then a second wave came a little late, where - not for everyone, but for some - I or other colleagues already perceived such a practical focus, many people sensed the opportunity that this is the right time to get on, that there will be something from it.

There, when someone dared to say something against them, they just cleared him away. Somewhere outside of Prague, when someone started getting angry, they just made him got lost and it had no impact at all. Whereas when someone in Prague got angry in this direction, people knew about him. The defense mechanism of the Charter, for example, was such that someone in Prague could dare to do something, because the Charter got him out of it, it reported it to Free Europe, for example. But in the countryside, it was not possible to take a banner and go to Pečky to shout "Communists, go to hell, finish here!". It would be a suicide. So, to talk, to swear, to meet someone was OK, but there was nothing to organize. The force that prevented the resistance was so strong and brutal that nothing could be organized. Questioner's question: And how did one know in November 1989 that it was different, that it was worth it? Well, one didn't know, not at first, but quite quickly I started to take it as a completely real possibility, and - so that it would not be so pathetic - I took it as such a duty to do something about it. Questioner's question: What did it look like in Kolín? And when did it become apparent that more people were joining? Hour by hour, it just changed, and I would say that even the dynamics, when more and more people were joining mentally and physically, on the contrary, it was bigger in the countryside. And I still felt there that we were pushing from those regions in relation to the Prague leadership to make it more dynamic, to have demands on the Communists harder and faster, and that Prague then began to slow down and falter.