“We came out of the subway with classmates from our circle and from other departments. We met there, for a while we were hesitantly looking at each other. Henrieta Hrinková said: “Let’s make a circle and hold hands, let’s sign the anthem and as a live chain walk towards our school. “ From the Hodžovo square, through subway at Poštová, along the OC Dunaj, we walked across the road, we were careful not to obstruct the traffic. So, we would break the chain and wait for the cars to pass. We were watched by the cars of the secret police. We have noticed them, also next to crosswalk, but they were not intervening, and merely monitored our actions. The first stop was in front of Slovak National Theatre, we again formed a circle. On the way there, we shouted slogans “We want dialogue, school reform, we don’t want a reactor - because building of a school reactor in Mlynská dolina was widely discussed at that time. We reached the school, which was near. The chain grew into a mass of people and Gejza Šlapka came out of the Ministry of Education, so we had a little discussion with him.”
“How did you feel about the discussion?”
“Strange. He came to calm down the situation, Heňa Hrinková started to talk with him. There we realized, that we had formed a circle and she was alone. Somewhere in the middle stood Gejza next to Heňa, then we encircled them, so she was not completely alone. The result was that [Šlapka] attempted to divide our dissatisfaction into small and futile problems. Interesting was, that we agreed the dialogue would continue, that we would send our speakers to Ministry of Education. It never happened, because the events in Prague on Friday completely changed the situation. We had dean holiday on Friday, which meant that students left home on Thursday, but we stayed and left only after the manifestation. We coordinated ourselves not to leave directly for the train station, but through various smaller streets.”
“How did onlookers perceive you?”
“Some supported us, even clapped, others shouted, but there were others asking why we were making such noise. As today. “
“Some time ago we had a meeting and a colleague reminded me of an event, of which I lack memory. We expressed distrust towards professors. We had a lustration list and we had to say a name of a professor and yes, we agree, no we disagree, and I was reading it. Dada Bombíková said to me, that she lacked courage for that, so I took it. I was reading it. It was unpleasant, I had mixed feelings, even when I was merely reading it, I carried the message which decided about destiny of some people. On the other hand, I calmed myself with the notion that it was a collective decision, not mine. We had some interesting discussions, when the people started to attack us for daring to do this. They claimed, we should be grateful for being accepted and threatened to name everyone who was accepted only because of contacts. And Milan Novotny came forward, confessed he was accepted because of contacts, which is wrong, and we want to change it.”
“And how did this expressing of trust and distrust look like? Were there any professors?”
“Yes, we read a name and we said, in principle, whether we think they should stay at the university. It was yes or no.”
“And the ones who received had to leave the department?”
“Yes, more or less. We decided about that.”
"It was Monday, I think the 13th of November, when the proces with The Bratislava Five took place and we attended the manifestation in support of these people before the kridlo of Justicny palac. Since I really enjoyed photography, I took pictures of this event. It finished in the morning around 9 and we returned to the university for history of scientific communism. We got on a tram on current Americke square and albeit I did not notice it, I was followed by two men, when I was entering the elevator at the university. They asked to speak with me, about the photographs. They said I also took pictues of members of secrete police, which si forbidden, and they want the film. And I must admit I submitted it/gave it to them. I was scared. They were so persuasive, that I simply gave it to them. I even said them, I have some private pictures on the film, my daughter was small. I asked whether they would return it to me, they said, of course. Of course, they did not return it. Only upstairs in lecture hall did I realise what I have done, because everyone attended was pictured there. On the other hand classmates consoled me, that I was not the only one taking pictures, and they have us nevertheless. This was my only experience with state police, but I feel guilty about handing the film to them even today."
Marián Sedílek was born in Ružomberok in 1968. He grew up in Piešťany, where his family moved due to his fathers ‘job as car mechanic and deck technician. Marian attended elementary school and gymnasium. He was accepted to study journalism at Comenius University only as a result of an appeal to the minister. He participated in a student march on 16th November 1989 before the Velvet Revolution, then he was one of the participants of student´s movement in Commenius University. After completing his studies in 1990, he worked in the weekly magazine Mladé rozlety. After the service he started to work in the Sunday supplement of the newspaper Smena, in 1993 he left for SME and in the same year he returned to Nitra, where he lived with his wife. In 1996 he decided to enter the field of public relations.
Utorok 21. novembra 1989: Študenti viacerých bratislavských vysokých škôl na mítingu na Hviezdoslavovom námestí – pohľad z podstavca sochy P. O. Hviezdoslava k SND (za lešením)
Utorok 21. novembra 1989: Študenti viacerých bratislavských vysokých škôl na mítingu na Hviezdoslavovom námestí – pohľad z podstavca sochy P. O. Hviezdoslava k SND (za lešením)
Utorok 21. novembra 1989: Študenti viacerých bratislavských vysokých škôl na mítingu na Hviezdoslavovom námestí – pre lepšie výhľad študenti obsadili aj koruny stromov.
Utorok 21. novembra 1989: Študenti viacerých bratislavských vysokých škôl na mítingu na Hviezdoslavovom námestí – pre lepšie výhľad študenti obsadili aj koruny stromov.
Utorok 21. novembra 1989: Z mítingu na Hviezdoslavovom námestí – Miloš Lauko, študentský líder revolúcie z VŠMU so študentkou z Prahy (v spodnom ľavom rohu), ktorá referovala o násilím potlačenej demonštrácii študentov v Prahe 17. 11. 1989.
Utorok 21. novembra 1989: Z mítingu na Hviezdoslavovom námestí – Miloš Lauko, študentský líder revolúcie z VŠMU so študentkou z Prahy (v spodnom ľavom rohu), ktorá referovala o násilím potlačenej demonštrácii študentov v Prahe 17. 11. 1989.
Utorok 21. novembra 1989: Štrajkový výbor študentov FFUK: zľava Magda Hlaváčová, Dionýz Hochel, Rastislav Rigo, Henrieta Hrinková, Daniel Bútora, Stanislav Šimko, Adriana Hosťovecká, Svetoslav Bombík, Milan Novotný
Utorok 21. novembra 1989: Štrajkový výbor študentov FFUK: zľava Magda Hlaváčová, Dionýz Hochel, Rastislav Rigo, Henrieta Hrinková, Daniel Bútora, Stanislav Šimko, Adriana Hosťovecká, Svetoslav Bombík, Milan Novotný
Student´s strike committee from Commenius University. From the left: Milan Novotný, Stanislav Šimko, Martin Homza, Róbert Letz, Radoslav Števčík, Dionýz Hochel, Patrícia Petergáčová.
Student´s strike committee from Commenius University. From the left: Milan Novotný, Stanislav Šimko, Martin Homza, Róbert Letz, Radoslav Števčík, Dionýz Hochel, Patrícia Petergáčová.
