I hid the badge and the scarf too
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Josef Švéda was born on 12 May, 1935 in Zlín. Both parents were Bata’s employees; the father worked in the export department and his mother was a lector often travelling outside the republic to Bata’s foreign branches. The witness shortly studied at the gymnasium following the war. After they were cancelled he returned to the secondary school and continued studying at a specialised training centre. Past the war he became a member of Sokol. In 1948 he shortly attended the scouting group with its branch at Na Kútech. Following the ban in 1950 they lost the branch and all their stuff too. Despite that the friends from the scouts kept meeting and created a small group. In 1951 they got trapped by a former head, who was claiming that the Scout is going to be re-established. They even passed the Scouting vow, but they did not know that they were monitored by the witness’ neighbour, who was probably the secret police agent. Some members of their group were interrogated and one of them was forced to inform on Rudolf Plajner. At the time of boarding school Josef Švéda also devoted himself to the athletics and took over the Tyrš´s badge of fitness from Emil Zátopek. After finishing the special training he added his education by studying secondary school and passing a graduation at industrial school. He kept meeting his friend and going out in nature, later together with the mountaineering club. Following graduation he was accepted to the high school in Pardubice, where he studied chemical-technological faculty. During his studies he devoted himself to choir singing and met his future wife there. Together they raised three children in Zlín. Most of his professional life he spent in the research institute in Louky. After 1989 he began enterprising and co-founded the company Invos s.r.o in Svárov. He is still an active member of the old scouts. In his free time he enjoys painting and studying the University of the Third Age.
