Antonín Šurýn

“Once I peered into a cell and said: ‘What a hero are you with an axe? Now you have the courage! Come out you ace!’ The prisoner answered: ‘I will, but others had to leave first. We will fight face to face – only we two.’ After the others left the cell, I continued: ‘What an ace you are to fight with the axe against man with empty hands. Not a billy I have.’ He threw the axe away. At the very moment my colleagues rushed in and we pacified him.”

“Political prisoners had better meals than we. In 1968 it was impossible to buy any extra food. On Christmas I had to go to the cantina of political prisoner to buy pickles, oranges and bananas. They got all, in our cantina you could buy nothing. So what is all the talking about persecution about?”

“In the prison Pankrác wardens played soccer in the corridor to kill the time. They were shouting: ‘line up for beating!’, e.g., while playing. They also kicked the doors of cells. Prisoners got an impression that their comrades are beaten up and tortured in the corridor. They complained at supervising procurator and an investigation was raised if any mishandling had happened. It was quite reasonable from their point of view. It was a minor incident.”

“Václav Havel and other signatories of Charta 77 passed trough our section. They had to undergo a medical checkup, to take shower and change civilian clothes before they were put to cells. The so called ‘sweatsuits’ were used because lot of the signatories were sentenced for many years and civilian clothes would not withstand the prison conditions. There were complaints incoming from courts that defendants were not dressed properly, when they appeared before courts. Therefore the decision was made to start using the brown ‘sweatsuits’.”