RNDr., CSc. Vladimír Richter

“I was invited to a censorship by the director of the institute among several selected people. I was asked how I look at 1968. I said I was convinced that something had to change for the better because communism had driven my dad to suicide in the 1950s. There was silence for a while, and then I was told: 'Comrade Richter, we will not fire you, but we promise you that you will be totally cut down on the salary, that we will not allow you the candidacy, and if you felt like leaving, we give you such an assessment that they would not accept you anywhere.' About four years have passed and I auditioned for Pod Petřínem Hospital as head of the laboratory. It was all agreed, and in three days I was called to say that they were very sorry, but that I had such an assessment that they could not employ me.”

“Then Dad was not allowed to have disciples. He wasn't allowed to have workers, so he was sawing with the mother. He had a number of workers before that. Of course, even after 1948, as a kid, I was distributing to home workers who sewed for my dad, but it was not allowed to be official. At that time there was a so-called progressive taxation of tradesmen. Those taxes were growing year after year. The second thing was that the hand-sewn suit had to be sold at the same price as the ready-made suit. The chances of supporting the family were lowering year after year. Dad had partial disability, suffered from heart problems, and when he decided he wouldn't make it financially, his mother found a job as a cleaning woman, which was hard to bear for daddy. One day ... my dad was a hunter with a hunting weapon he kept at home... he just shot himself."

"We knew who from our house was a hard-core Bolshevik and who attended the street committee meetings. Comrade Pelikán, formerly Pelcman, another hard-core Bolshevik a cop, comrade Laňák, so we knew any cadre reviews were in the hands of these people. And that my father's cadre's 'tailor trader' does not like the regime. Such reports have driven my dad to suicide."

“When I talk to colleagues who stayed in the Falcon and were not fired, they clearly say they have always felt like Sokols. They officially called themselves 'comrade', but they communicated on an informal basis and said that they were going to Sokol. There was a section of ZRTV in the Bohemka, which was basic and recreational physical education, or ZRTV was practically like Sokol. Those people who stayed there during the Spartak Stalingrad era, who persisted in Bohemia and continued the Sokol in Vinohrady again, told me that they still felt like Sokols there. But in 1990 there were Sokols, who were once fired, and they said they were bearers of the Sokol tradition and were taking over the place again. The takeover was a very problematic matter, rather legal, property settlement and so on. But in short, those who followed the tradition but did not practice in the 1960s felt that they were a bit different to the Sokols than those who continued during the period of communism. I feel such tension or critical remarks, but I don't blame either side.”

“There were personnel checks right after the meeting. Taking the numerical increase after World War II, especially 1947 and 1948, the working class infiltrated Sokol. Comrade Gottwald, later President Zápotocký, were also a member of Sokol, and there were various people in Sokol. So, just after the rally, the check-ups came and the Sokols, who were not suitable, were thrown out. Unfortunately, I do not have lists of people in Sokol Vinohrady and I do not know how many were thrown out. But they were people who were not workers' professions. For example, the wife of a colonel, the wife of a general, in short, those who did not fit politically. The person who did this in Vinohrady was the brother Václav Hlaváček. He has just initiated such checks.”