Václav Poláček

"I was fixing a friend's car, helping out among my friends. It was Election Day, again the two days, instead of one day, we still have two days here. Without saying in advance that I was sick or anything else, the election commission comes. They were directed by Mr. Chramosta. I was lying under the car. They came to my house with a portable box and said, 'Mr. Poláček, the election, you were not at the polls, so we are here to see you. We see you don't have much time...' I said, 'I'm not going to throw it in, my hands are too dirty.' They said, 'We'll throw it in for you, won't we?' I said, 'What I'm doing, nobody's going to do for me. I'm sorry, but I'm not coming out. I have to finish it, I promised the man.' 'So you're not going to vote?' 'No, I'm not going to vote!'"

"[The unit commander announced] a competition to see which company would have the most SSM members, and that company would get a leave pass. You could leave the barracks on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, you said where and you went home to your parents, to your sweetheart, to your grandfather. That was leaving the garrison, a leave of absence. I'm sitting in the clubhouse, where the TV was, and a friend from the company comes up to me: 'Please, are you in the SSM?' I say: 'I'm not in the SSM, they won't take me there.' He says: 'Wait, I'll put you in.' I say: 'No way, I'm not in the SSM!' He told me to keep looking and left. The announcement comes, and our company wins. I was like, "How could we win that?" I went [to look] and I managed to get to the papers and I see that I signed there that I was in SSM. I go to him and I ask, how come I'm signed that I'm a member of SSM? He said, `Because the boys want to get home, we're all going to be in SSM.' I tore up the papers and said I wasn't going to be signed there. It went to the company commander, and for the offense of tearing the charter I got five days in prison after my duty."