"They joined the party in 1945 and were eager communists, especially the father. The curious thing was that grandmother, grandfather, mother went to church, while some faith and some things around the church were not compatible with communist ideology. It was a curious situation that people, according to my father, were divided into comrades, they were members of the Communist Party, and the reaction, the others were reactionaries, they were, for example, tradesmen, it was a barber for example. It was interesting that my mother had a friend and the friend´s husband was a barber, a tradesman, a reactionary. My mother went to visit her friend, but my father went to the Mack's to play cards, because he would not talk to the reactionaries. It led even further. When I started going to parties, I got a list at home which comrades' girls to do dance with at the party."
"Then Janduran came, he was the head of the National Front in Jičín, and told us that the district communist secretary was inviting us to a round table. This was their first concession. I was at the round table, about twenty of us were sitting. It was really round, because there is a really big round table in the small meeting room at the town hall. As we sat with another Vladimir at our side of the table, for the first time at such a session, I whispered to Vladimir: 'Please, but when they ask us what we want, let´s just say we don't have it exactly worded, we don't know.' Vladimír, Mr. senior doctor from the general ward said, 'I don't know it at all, but they' - and he pointed to the prominence - 'they must not know.' "
"I was summoned to the regional national committee. There was a man sitting with a pipe, or probably with a chibouk. I thought he would have my testimonials on the table, because at that time testimonials were done every year or every two years. He had nothing there. They told me that I could not raise young people and that I had two options: either we terminate the employment agreement or they would fire me because of a loss of trust. I had time to think, my wife and I were arguing. And yet, if I leave by agreement, it would be good. However, if they fire me, I couldn't be sure that I get a job that matches my qualifications."
Bohumír Procházka was born on January 18, 1940 in Liban near Jičín in a working-class communist family. His father Bohumír divided people into comrades and reactionaries. After primary school, his parents sent him to the Jan Žižka Military School in Moravská Třebová in 1954. The witness survived the military regime, graduated and went into civilian life. He graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague. During his studies, he joined the Communist Party out of conviction. During his compulsory military service, he got married and his wife Hana had a son and a daughter. He started teaching at a secondary industrial school in Jičín. He did not agree with the August occupation in 1968 and refused it during employment inspections. In 1970, he was expelled from the Communist Party and transferred to a vocational school in Nová Paka, and after three years he was banned from teaching completely. Since then, he worked at the district hygiene station. In 1989, he co-organized the participation of the Jičín hospital in the general strike and negotiated with the communists on concessions to the opposition. He devoted himself to orienteering and cultural events in the Jičín region. He founded his own monthly Prochoroviny. In 2021 he lived in Jičín.
