Jiří Suchan

"The way the Stalin statue was there at the park - it just annoyed me and my friend. I remember we figured out it was the last Stalin in the republic, a larger-than-life sandstone statue of Stalin. I guess it was because there was supposed to be an exhibition of Olbram Zoubek's sculptures in the Museum of National History in Šumperk sometime in autumn or summer. The exhibition... they had already transported the sculptures of Olbram Zoubek there, saying they would arrange it, but at the last minute, they cancelled the exhibition. As always, without any reason or the reason being some sort of formality. And my friend and I, when the statues were wrapped up in the courtyard of the National History Institute, would always unwrap them and take photos with them. So we were kind of annoyed by that, and so then we decided they should remove the Stalin statue. So we thought of the most radical thing. We got spray paint... And I can't remember the timing of it. I was just wondering now–because it was all so fast–if it was already October or November '89. Around that time. It was already cold and damp, the wind was blowing, and it was mostly rainy. So it could have been like October or November. Well, and I sprayed his hands with red paint. It was a bad spray, so I had red hands myself because the wind was blowing and we were hurrying. But the job was successful because the next day, they removed him. Because since it was sandstone, I suppose it couldn't be easily removed. So then I went to work in the morning, to the theatre, and I saw a crane there, and they were already taking him away. They'd taken him away, and all that was left standing was the plinth, and that was it.