Ing. Vít Ryšánek

„SNB evaluated it so that it was a highly dangerous and hostile event and now the interesting connection. I was not present at the assessment, but it turned out that the relating to Mácha, who was a contemporary of the Hungarian Sándor Petöfi in 1962 it was six years from the Hungarian contra-revolution, as they used to say, and it was a bloody event. The Czech political tops and management deduced that it was the way that all unrest and contra-revolution in Hungary began, so it could have been similar. That it should be roughly controlled and condemned. The police (SNB) made it a big issue and evaluated it very strictly as an organised hostile event. I got to go back to the talking, as I know how cool and spontaneously the whole event was created there in Petřín hill. I'll head for the fact that it arose spontaneously, and that it has never been organized, and even not in an aggressive manner, it was almost idyllic. But the police and government authorities evaluated it very sharply.“

„The day was very cruel for the village inhabitants. Even my dad, and I perceived it quite sharply... he was glad to do his job, and liked it and knew it. And when such people came to give him advise… And they were not those kind of persuaders or aggressors and didn’t come with a revolver or a club, yet the pressure was there. I was at the secondary school then, my sister was at the collage. And I heard as it was said openly, when things will proceed towards collectivisation, so we both will not continue to study any further. Briefly speaking, it was tough not only for daddy, I can see the day with a time distance... it was a terror.“

"When I started building my house, it was a lovely August Sunday. I have a land lot in Bílá Hora. I was digging the foundation with a pickaxe - by myself - and so on. There was a swimming pool down in Motol, and the noise from the swimming pool came up to me. I felt a little - just a little - sorry I wasn't by the swimming pool. But I got an interesting idea... I had an epiphany so to speak. I had always wanted to go abroad, but not emigrate; just to see the world. I wanted that very much. I was too scared to emigrate - I would have died of homesickness, so I never dared. But there, on that Sunday, I thought about this: I have always wanted to go to Canada in my mind. If I went there, I would work and at first I would share a bed, then I would share a room, and I would progress. I would certainly succeed - I simply never envisaged an opposite scenario. But on that site on that Sunday in August, I thought, 'Man, you want an adventure? You have it right here! Stay here, work, stick it out, and if you want adventure, you don't have to go to Canada, you can be here.' I've still wanted to go abroad ever since, but that desire for adventure by emigration had already left me, and this was very important for my decision, as in, 'your home is here, so show what you can do right here'."

"We stood there and the place filled with people. I don't know how many of us there were, but I guess a couple, lower hundreds of us. I remember it started getting dark and somebody went on the hillside and said something but didn't go over well. The crowd was getting bored, and that was a problem. There was all manner of shouting and somehow it didn't resonate. Then, a voice said something like 'Give us Barák to beat him up!' (rhyming in Czech). Barák was the Minister of the Interior at the time, and he had just compromised himself and was recalled. This is where it sparked. The slogan was also rephrased in a vulgar form: 'Give us Barák...' It also went over well. It was obvious that the crowd was interested in this type of slogan. One more slogan; this was in at the time: 'One more Cuba, and we'll shut up!' The crowd responded to that. Or: 'You can buy meat in Cologne, not in Kolín.' When slogans like these sounded, the crowd responded."

"Daddy prospered while he farmed. He fared so well that, over time, we rented two homesteads - two properties, though not large farms. He bought and rented fields, and he was prospering and doing well. His business was thriving. What's it like having to walk away from your business when you're in your prime - he was 45 in 1957 - and you're thriving and doing what you know how to do best? It must have been very difficult. I only get to realise that decades after the fact."