Mgr. Ladislav Smejkal

"First of all, my parents were mostly afraid that I might get recruited, as it was extremely humiliating for them. There was only one terribly distant uncle in our whole extended family who was a member of the Communist Party, and he was called Uncle Red, and I don't remember his name because it was a nickname, right. And they were very much like afraid of me doing this, and that's why I had to defend myself so much, but mostly for my own sake, not just for my parents."

"Naturally, it happened that I had to give a lecture for the pensioners, members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, who were on holiday in Doksy. This caused such a panic here in the district that they even sent two supervisors with me so that I wouldn't accidentally say the word Lord God or Virgin Mary while telling the stories and legends. I thought, 'If it belongs there, it will be there.' So I said it and instead of looking down on me, they were moved that someone had really come from the people. And it was kind of, I guess, satisfying in a way because I was still being tested in a way when I came back afterwards. I argued that even the retired members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, that is, they were employees, they were not functionaries, that they were satisfied, so what. And otherwise, like for example, I was summoned several times, especially in front of the bigwigs here, for not speaking strongly enough about the October Revolution. I said, 'It didn't suit me, so I didn't say it.'"