Jan Pečený

“I can still very well remember August 21, 1968. On that day, I was supposed to go on a class excursion to help with the harvest of hops. I had just enrolled at the electro technical high school and the freshmen classes were regularly going on these class trips to help with the hops harvest. So on that 21st of August, I was supposed to depart to a hops farm somewhere in the Žatecko region. Well, as I woke up that morning, I immediately realized the strange mood. The radio was on and the Czech national anthem as playing. I heard the broadcaster saying: ‘Foreign armies have stepped on our territory’. I initially thought that the Germans had invaded Czechoslovakia. That was because we lived in world of propaganda and brainwashing. I thought that war had broken out. Only a couple of minutes and some clarification later did I realize what had really happened. This meant two things. Firstly, I didn’t go on that hops-harvesting trip that day. And secondly, concerning the Scout, there of course were huge expectations as to what is going to happen. It later became evident that even though the organization itself was able to go on, the screws were tightened and tightened and the situation grew ever more complicated.”

“I think I should also tell you one more story that doesn’t relate directly to our company. It is about Brother Jan Remišer, alias Lon, the first leader of the forest school, which I had the honor of leading for a few years as well. In 1970, he had a great closing speech that ended the trip to the forest center. By then, it was already clear that the developments in Czechoslovakia are leading nowhere and that there would be bad times for the Scout. I also heard him when he spoke about his trial. Of course, the charge against him was for his activities with youth in the Scout. There were several accused in this case. During the trial, the judge was asking them various questions and there was also a question related to the Brother sitting next to him. Brother Lon started to clap his fingers on his knees. Here you could see in practice what Morse code is good for. Lon was giving the Brother signals, he was telling him to be Q-U-I-E-T. I will never forget this because it impressed me so much. These people were so brave and they didn’t lose their nerve even in those hard times. They used what they’ve learned and it was meaningful.”

“I can still remember when I spoke about the Eagle patrol… there once was a summer camp where you had to accomplish the three eagle feathers. We had very strict rules for our camp because we were only granted one try and that was it for the whole duration of the summer camp. If you failed at it, you had to wait a year for the next season. At other companies, they would simply let people try again and again until everybody did it. I have to confess, to my great shame, that I’ve never managed to accomplish all three feathers. I messed it up in 1969 and in 1970 again. In 1969, by the time we had our summer camp, the first people landed on the Moon. By that time, we already had our little radio receiver. We would begin the three feather test in the evening, after the line-up. I held out, the next day in the morning, till noon, and in the afternoon, I heard on the radio that they had already landed and were walking on the Moon. About half an hour or maybe an hour later, I walked past a tent and heard the people inside talking about whether they had already landed or not. Somebody claimed that they can’t be there, yet. I stepped inside and victoriously said: ‘But they have already landed!’ Talking about failures, in 1970, we were camping in the Šumava Mountains, in the Kašperské Mountains and in the Amáliino Valley. And again, it was alright till the afternoon. In the afternoon, we played a game that I detest until now. We would run in the forest with a headband on and a number attached to it. You were out of the game the moment somebody called your number out loud. So we would hide and lurk for other players. I don’t remember my number anymore but it was something like 69. I was hidden behind a tree watching out for others when somebody who was just a few meters away from me shouted ‘67’ and pointed at me. I shouted back in response: ‘No, that’s not me. I’m not 67’! So that’s my fiasco with the three feathers.”