Josef Šubrt

“In the case of this helicopter it was somehow unusual. We couldn’t go investigate ourselves – there was a lot of supervision in this single case. We couldn’t even touch anything ourselves. Everyone had their own issue to investigate to and had to work completely independently, not discussing anything with the others. We must’ve kept shut. My task was to find out whether the engine caused the accident. That is what I was asked to answer and nothing else.”

“I think everyone was looking forwards to Velvet Revolution. People were hoping that the political totalitarianism – the concentrated power or how to call it – would change. That totalitarianism would disappear and wouldn’t be applied. In the course of time I realized that the political totalitarianism based on communist ideology was replaced by totalitarianism of money. I don’t really know which one is worse. In fact, I think the totalitarianism of money is much crueler.”

“We all welcomed the Prague Spring, it was exciting. Those were the times when we thought that finally, regardless of their party affiliation, real experts who knew to do their jobs were to take up managing positions. I mean, in the factories, at the cash desk as well as in the individual workplaces. But this vision of mine that things could actually change for the better only lasted for several months. I must say I was disappointed.”