Antonín Stáně

“The first thing they did was to summon us back to Czechoslovakia. My parents had been considering fleeing to America but there was a sister and a grandmother in the country, so they decided to return. At first, my father was stationed at a ministry, later he worked as a solicitor. I remember quite clearly that between 1950-1951, he would come home only for the weekend. Then he got fired and from then on, it was very difficult for him to find a job. For instance, he worked at the National Museum where he was guarding the famous whale skeleton, and other such jobs.”

“I don’t particularly remember what the adults had to say about it, but naturally, as a child I gave in to the psychosis. I can still remember how much my sister hurt my feelings when during the Pioneer scarf ceremony, when they wrapped the scarfs round our necks, my way-older and much more politically aware sister said: ,And now we can use it to wipe our shoes!’”

“We, that is this charity, this institution, we function as something of a crossroads where different generations meet, people of varying fates, who - whether sooner or later - came to Britain from Bohemia and Moravia, or also from Slovakia, because we were brought up as Czechoslovaks and we still live in symbiosis with our Slovak friends.”

“It is something of a two-edged blade, as you feel that compared to this famous ancestor you have accomplished very little in your life. That is one thing, but on the other hand you have to accept that of course, we each have our opportunities and we each do our best. That was one thing, the thing where you thought to yourself: ‘I should do more.’ On the other hand it was a good moral encouragement, such a commitment.”

“And old acquaintance from pre-war Rome became the Italian ambassador in Prague, and he found out that my father was there, so he sent his driver with a calling card and the request that his father visit him some time. The driver worked for State Security, of course, so the following week my father received a summons to Bartholomew Street [State Security HQ in Prague - transl.].”