“He’d let it slide down to the soldier, who had his shoulder ready, and he’d carry it away on his shoulder - there were mine carts a bit further on, and it was put into those mine carts. I’d never done labour before in my life, I had only ever been a student - at secondary school and university. This shoulder here, the one and the other, they were just bones with skin over them, nothing else, so it hurt terribly after a few times... The pain was excruciating, I remember that. Then when it settled down, when the skin got calloused from all the carrying, it was more manageable.”
“I had a hard time getting a job. Whenever I came somewhere here in Kyjov, they were interested, I mean, they were hiring, but as soon as they found out that I was an expelled university student and that I had worked in the mines instead of doing military service, they lost interest. I tried all the firms in Kyjov, the glass works, the screw factories, the co-op [a grocer’s shop - trans.], restaurants, and goodness knows what else was here. Until finally I was hired by the grocer’s, the place was called Pramen. They took me in. But I mostly had poorly paid jobs there and a lot of work, overtime, stock-taking, and so on. Back then it could take the whole night to take stock in larger shops like that. I couldn’t climb up the ladder - no sooner had I promoted a little bit, I started working as the head of the inspection department, the whole thing was scrapped and I went back to taking stock again.”
František Procházka was born in 1931 in Slovakia to Czech parents. He graduated from a business academy in Břeclav and then applied to the University of Commerce in Bratislava (now the University of Economics). However, he was expelled from the school for political reasons in 1952, after completing five semesters. For his mandatory military service he was assigned to the Auxiliary Engineering Corps in Ostrava, where he worked in the mines. After a few days he was reassigned to Karviná, where he unloaded wagons with various material. After being released from military duty he had difficulties finding a job; he was finally employed at a grocer’s shop called Pramen (meaning “spring of water” - trans.), and he later taught practical subjects at a vocational school. He improved his teacher’s qualification at a faculty of education, earning a Master’s degree. He was later rehabilitated for his undeserved expulsion and received an Engineer’s degree as well.
