Josef Švéda

“Because we did not take the pledge yet. We were there a part of the group, but the pledge ceremony was usually done in the camp. I was not in the camp anymore, so we made it there. There was an old quarry here in Slanica, where we made fire and nothing could catch on fire there. And there we did it somehow, I do not know, if it was morning or afternoon. My parents knew about it, they came to see us, and on the other side the secret police was watching - the one guy, who moved next to us. We did not know that at all. And so he did not meet us a lot, perhaps he only informed on us. When he saw us, maybe meeting at home or going to the woods.” – “And how did you figure out this guy was watching you?” – “Because he was there in the woods, somebody told me, that he stood there looking at the oath back then. I mean, my parents told me.” – “And that was when that suspicion arose?” – “Around that time. They also wondered, what he was doing, where he was employed, and somehow they learnt that he work for the secret police.” – “And do you think it was a coincidence that he moved in the neaighbourhood?” – “I do not know, I just cannot say it. I really cannot say that, but later he moved away. Maybe it was targeted at the time, when it was revealed that we had the group.”

“I remember coming to a clubhouse that was still closed, but one door was bungled, and it was already obvious that somebody was taking stuff there. And it was already known that no one could have gone there and that the Pioneer owned it. I do not know, if the scouts were taking their things there, or how it was, but it was actually the end of it, right?” - “And have you already been aware of it for some time, or was it just all of a sudden? “ – “Nobody thought that it would end. Because they actually went to the camps for the harvesting of blueberries, those were in fact labour camps. And no one wanted to believe it would have happened. So they thought that scouting was harmless, it would not matter to anyone, or did it? That children go to nature. But it mattered, it did. There was the Pioneer movement and it was necessary to transfer the children to Pioneer.”