Alf Skjeseth

“These were not people easily available. Many of them had police behind them all the time. For example, Petr Uhl had police outside his door. He couldn´t have a walk in the park with his children without having secret police behind him. So there was some conspirative behaviour. I don’t exactly know, how these things were set up. We had for example scheduled an interview with Marta Kubišová, a female former artist, who were at that time the spokesperson for Charta 77. And I remember that one of the appointments was cancelled, because she had observed this surveillance agents around her. But after some days we got green light to meet her and her husband in a flat somewhere here. So I think these friends we got here, Michael Konůpek´s old friends, they had access to the inner circles of this network and we were totally dependent on them. We couldn´t speak the language, we didn´t know any persons. There were no mobile phones, no internet. Especially from the start, we were totally dependent on them and they trusted us, had confidence in us. I think we behaved so we deserved it. We were loyal, we were discrete, when it was needed. We made reports that reached them here, giving a fair and share picture of developments here on a broad scale, because it was not only interviews it was also reporting on what happened in social live, labour , education. Of course we had to often use sources without name and address.”

„At this time, one of the signatories of the Charta, Mr Michael Konůpek and his family came to Oslo. They left Czechoslovakia I think in 1977 or early 1978. He was interested in cooperation with Norwegian media to highlight the situation here, to contribute with more information and knowledge. And then, after a long meeting with Michael in spring, April maybe, 1978, we made a big interview with him, we printed the manifesto, and we planned to go here to visit Prague and try to find representatives of this new movement. He had very good contacts and we met many people. I travelled in May 1978 with a photographer, we stayed for two weeks. We had no money, so we stayed privately with Michael’s family for two weeks. Very generous, I must say, and very confident of them. And we got in contact with certain active people of the Charta 77 here and made a lot of, I would say, exclusive stories and interviews with dissidents and spokespersons and suppressed people. So that was the first and longest trip. We came home and printed big articles in the newspaper. Just a build up to the events in August 78, where there was also a lot of political activity. We met people who were not very well known with the Norwegian public but many of them were central people. We didn´t meet Vaclav Havel, he was more or less arrested all the time, but we met lot of others. We didn’t go only once in 78, we came again in 80, 81, 82, 84, not two weeks every time, but one week, five days. Over time I got continuity in contact with these circles and these people.”