Jana Němečková

“One day I was summoned to the Gestapo (the building on the river bank in Pilsen, where the Gestapo had their offices during the war and when the State security police then resided after 1948 – ed.’s note). A market was held at the exhibition grounds and one man from Spálené Poříčí had a large cake there which was shaped like a merry-go-round. I watched it and I felt happy that Mr. confectioner from Spálené Poříčí had his cake and his confectionery goods displayed there. Two gentlemen were smiling at me from the other side because they knew that I was attracted by it. As I was leaving, one of them asked me whether I could recommend them a good place to eat in Pilsen. He said that he was there with a colleague who was an Austrian and that they would like to go for a lunch somewhere. I told them that they should go to Slovan. And then I was summoned to the office on the riverbank (the head doctor Mr. Dort was completely shocked by that) and questioned about the acquaintances I had, about what had happened and about the foreigners that I maintained contacts with. And I was told that when this foreigner arrived again, I was supposed to report it to them. I replied: ‘You will have known about him already for a long time.’ They thus suspected that I was involved in some counterespionage. They asked me whether the foreigners asked me how many employees worked in the Škoda factory? I said: ‘Asked me?! I don’t even know whether there are two hundred or three hundred or thousands of them.’”

“I encountered workers from the Škoda factory who were marching there and so I joined them. At first I didn’t know what was going on. Later it became clear to me and so I marched with them. The PS guards were already standing in Prešovská Street where the tram line goes towards the town square. Since somebody in the militia was reasonable enough, they did not send in the militia guards (to suppress the protests rally – ed.’s note). I felt as a hero when I faced those bayonets aimed against us. (How old was I? Not much). We reached the square. Since I walked in the front, the mass of people pushed me all the way behind the town hall; now there is the (shop – ed.’s note) Žabka there. Water cannons were already prepared there. They poured water at me from just two meters away. I wore a nurse’s uniform and I had a leather coat over it. They sprayed water at me from the hoses which were just two meters away from me, and the stream of the water was so powerful. They basically pushed us out from the town square. I remember that people were throwing away money and some papers from the town hall.”

“This is what happened: Girls from my class knew that when we marched there, some guys - probably students - lifted me up and I placed a bunch of flowers to the Masaryk’s monument. A woman (from the municipal office in Spálené Poříčí – ed.’s note) learnt about this. The girls were then interrogated, but I was not interrogated by anybody and nobody summoned me for an interrogation. The girls came (on June 1, 1953 – ed.’s note) to school and they locked them up there so that they would not be able to go out. The girls jumped out from the window. A member of the Youth Union saw them as they were walking through the town and on top of that they showered him with some ironic remarks and they ridiculed him. A great interrogation was then held at school. Everybody was interrogated and nobody cared about me. I thought that the girls had to think that I had to be the one who had informed upon them. This bothered me greatly, but I kept waiting and I expected that somebody would ask me something. Mrs. Boháčová, née Benešová, began speaking about it. Then I walked through the town and I wore the same coat (as I had worn during the protest rally – ed.’s note). Some gentleman stopped me by the train station and he showed me a photo of me laying the flower to the monument, and he said: ‘Do not wear this coat anymore!’ I don’t know who he was; some good soul. He was probably an honest man who saw a young girl and knew what was happening. I thus got out of it and the other girls were kicked out from school. I felt terribly sorry about it.”