Jiřina Nehybová

“I was being questioned. It was in connection with the fact that sometimes we drove... in Pomezí u Poličky a chartist called Standa Homol had a farm. I know there were various such readings. Maybe even Vlasta Chramostová's Residential Theater has been there and other events of course. There we used to go to such events. And there they always stood by the train, watching who got off, and sometimes they managed to take some of us for questioning. Of course, they asked all sorts of questions. They looked like we were suspects and we were not the perpetrators of an act, they took our fingerprints, searched us, and put a lot of pressure on us. They asked who we were meeting, what we knew about Charter 77, and stupid questions alike that could hardly be answered normally.”

“We lived in a house by the road, opposite to the Besední house, and tanks were just passing by. So there was a terrible thunder. I was scared. And I know they were crying at home and saying, 'And here it is!' And it was a terrible fear, because no one knew what it would turn out to be, so until today I actually get the goosepimples from the feeling deep in my childhood, as I could not make sense of it yet.”

“In the ninth grade, we decided, and we wrapped up the whole class with posters and quotes that were directed at how we wanted to live free and not be bound. We included documentation of photographs of our favourite bands that we listened to, for example Marta Kubišová we had there, who was already banned at that time. So then there was a bit of upheaval in the staff room, we had suggestions for being punished for bad morals; finally it was agreed that we had to remove everything and redecorate the class, which we did not mind at all, because the weekend was beautiful. It was nice, we were painting, and we were playing the drumstick - it was then reels back then - again the rock music we were listening to, foreign, which was not here on the records. We listened to the Deep Purple, Zeppelins, Sabath. Today it is a common thing, back then it was hard to reach. And we were just perfect. It was such a free moment in non-freedom.”

“We had a dog called Punta, with whom I used to go out for a walk, and just on the street I was shouting at him: 'Punta, you bloody communist, go home immediately!' And of course I came home and everyone was scared telling me: 'See, that is why we must not say such things before Jiřinka.' ”

“At a time when we had such a home-made samizdat and my husband was playing in the music band Květen so at the time we were actually working together. Because Petr Cibulka had a recording home studio. He recorded various bands. And my husband was already under treatment with cancer. Nevertheless, he went to perform so that Peter could make a record. I wasn't very happy about that. It probably didn't do much for the treatment, but it was his choice. And when the recording was made, it was already lying in bed, and it was the end of his illness, in Žluťák, so the only joy he had was the recording. And how about Petr Cibulka ... I keep a little distance from him, so I'm sorry. It's a bit of a personal matter. I don't appreciate him much. So he said that if I give him that, I don't know how much the amount was, of course I could buy it. But it seemed like ... I never told her husband, of course, but I brought it to him to feel good. And that's just to underline of the person's character.”