Dalibor Matějů

"They [the Soviets] sent us specialists here. They were supervisors who used to come here to see if, in their opinion, we could build and operate. I must say that these people were knowledgeable and well versed in the issue. One of them is still active in his industry today. So, within my position, I had my shadow. I was the chief technologist, and next to me I had the Soviet chief technologist. I once asked him why we had to do the so-called first revision in a planned construction project. This meant shutting down the entire facility, which then had to be disassembled, reassembled and it could continue. We were having a glass of wine together at the time and he replied, 'We do not have to do it. The equipment comes to us complete and assembled. In the Soviet Union, however, this must be done. The equipment often gets to us unfinished and lacks components.”

"The accident was one of the indirect consequences of the Russian occupation, which caused the replacement of the entire leadership. Purges were being made, and in 1960 other bosses came. They were all, of course, sworn communists. The director was a chemist by education. I can't prove it, but people said about him that he liked alcohol. It was him who introduced a number of novelties. The heating plant was of an older type and its equipment had to be maintained quite often. The brown coal from Poland was used for heating there. Gases from the coal quickly released after grinding. Therefore, it had to be stored in bunkers. One day, in one of them, the weight on the check valve was released and the gases rose into the separator, where they accumulated. Later, they exploded, which stirred up the coal dust and it also gradually began to explode. The heating plant was then destroyed. However, there did not have to be that much dust. It was the fault of the new director, who wanted to save money and canceled the brigades that swept and cleaned in operation. My brother had an afternoon shift and he was unlucky enough to make some repairs in that place. Instead of chatting with one of his colleagues, he went straight into the corridor, which was full of flames at the time. It burned him so much that the next day in St. Anny hospital died."