Jaromír Müller

"It was all within the Lachema company. The first two attempts, we were still working class. The first attempt, it was just kind of subtle. It was a lady who contacted us and said that if we wanted, she would become dome kind of a guarantor and that we were worthy of it then, it wasn't discussed any further. In the second case, it was worse, I was already married to Ilona. There the comrades started on us nicely at first, how we would have it and how the children's future would be secured and how we would get a flat and how we would be promoted. And when we said we didn't feel up to it, they asked us if we wanted time to think about it, so we said we didn't need it. Then they came at us from the other side saying they'd show us when we had the kids and so on. And it wasn't exactly easy to refuse in this case. You could imagine that child standing by a boiler in Lachema, throwing something in there with a shovel. But again, I saw father of mine who reacted when his brother joined the Communist Party and came to explain to him from Prague, that he had to, and he [father] just looked at him and said, 'You know my opinion,' and it was never mentioned again."

"I was just there in August 1968. Of course, we were supposed to return on August 24 and on August 21 what happened happened. We were already in Stockholm by then. We actually spent most of that pioneer camp on the island of Isthölmön, just below Stockholm. And it was only for the last week that we were to move to Stockholm. And the next day was August 22nd. And one of our Swedish friends, Brurcelin was his name, ran up and started to say something about disasters and that the Russians had attacked us. I could speak a little German by then and I was speaking English somehow, so we agreed that the Warsaw Pact troops had invaded us. So, of course, we were wide-eyed. We imagined the shooting going on. We didn't want to believe it at first, of course, because our friends. Well, nevertheless, on that 24th of August, we didn't come back. Firstly, it was not safe, and secondly, Ruzyně airport was destroyed by shooting. So basically the Swedes took us into their families. One by one, two by two, whoever they could. We were very grateful to them then, and I am still grateful to this day, because we were unknown children to them. So we stayed a bit longer, and we didn't return to the republic until September 4, when the worst of the Russian side at least was over. It was interesting because Ruzyně was still not accepting and friendly countries, which was Poland and East Germany, which was two buses of us, the two buses were going under the flag of the International Red Cross, yet we were refused entry. So we were transported, from Stockholm we went by bus, over the canal, the bridge wasn't there then, to Denmark and then through what was then West Germany to the border. So it's interesting that the bad Germans hosted us there at that time, I mean the Bundeswehr directly. Because one night we stayed in the Bundeswehr barracks. The soldiers there gave us a wonderful feast and a great program. Then we got to the border at Rozvadov at that crossing, and instead of a friendly welcome we stood there, both buses surrounded by Soviet machine gunners. Again, we were not allowed to go any further. We were stuck there for four, almost five hours before our buses from Prague arrived, and only then were we transferred and allowed to cross the border."