Bohumil Obdržálek

"We were driving, and my friend said he was going to buy cigarettes. There was a kiosk at the mall where they sold newspapers. He got back in the car and had cigarettes and Rudé Právo News. I said, "What are you carrying? You want to get the car dirty?' And he said, 'Well, she forced it to me.' - 'How did she force it on you?' - 'She said she wouldn't sell me the cigarettes unless I bought the Rudé právo.' - 'Give it to me.' So I took it, went to the booth and said, 'Lady, there's been a mistake. The gentleman wanted to buy cigarettes, and you gave him some dung.' - 'What did I give him?' - 'Well, this. Take this and give me my money back.' And she said no. They didn't have a phone in the booth, so I said, 'If you don't, I'll turn the booth on its roof.' And she paid me back. I left and said, 'See. They called it a bundled sale.' And I said, 'No, not bundled, you're a dumbass. Bibby tells you it's bundled sale with the Rudé Právo, and see, I got my money back, here you go.' Those were such incidents... But those people, they were a herd. People were too... It wasn't so bad that one had to surrender completely."

"I was very lucky. If they had brought me there on the twenty-first [of August 1969], you would have seen it! I saw those Brno people. A certain Balajka, a man from Brno, was there [in custody]. He was coming from work in overalls and somehow stumbled in during a demonstration in Brno. And he was completely black. He couldn't sit or lie down. His back was beaten black! I've never seen that before. Literally black, that's how much they beat him up. I only got banged. And when somebody asked me afterwards, because I had such an action, a good one, that I gave them a good one, they got theirs, when somebody asked me, 'They must have beaten you!?' So I said, 'I hit them harder.' So I feel good."

"A year after graduation, in 69', it was the anniversary of the occupation. So, of course, there was a demonstration in Zlín. I was in the front row, with a flag, a great patriot. They dispersed us right from the beginning. That was in front of the school, there was a statue of Masaryk, and we stood in front of it, and there were a few of us at the beginning, and then it increased. The militiamen came. They weren't locals but from somewhere in Holešov. And they made a swarm and came against us. We had no chance, so we tried to run through. It was like in the movie I Survived My Death when they're beating them. We ran, and then we gathered again in front of the hotel in Zlín. There, we sat down again with the flag. There were policemen in cars, there was a bus, there was a water cannon. The water cannon was pointing, and I was wearing a leather jacket, but when it hit me, I flew maybe three meters. And I was sitting down! It was that big of a hit! So I flew away. And they let the dogs loose on us without muzzles. He didn't bite me, but he bit the guy next to me. And then he saved me. That's a nice little episode. Close up, I got tear gas in my face. And that's the end of it. You freeze only for a few seconds, no chance. And they came running towards me, trying to catch me. And out of the door, out of the hotel, came Karel Effa, the actor. He opened his mouth and said, "No way! He grabbed me, pulled me in, dragged me to the toilet and washed my eyes out. I didn't see anything, they would have caught me there. And that Effa saved me. He let me out through the back door with a cook afterwards."