"And so I began a hunger strike. There were two wings there - one built at the times of Maria Theresa, and a newly-built one. I was placed in the old one. There was a big bucket, to be used as a toilet, which was always brought away and cleaned. As soon as I refused food, they immediately placed me in solitary confinement. I was alone at the cell in the old wing. One evening, the door opened and a huge guy carrying a metal bar came in. I already imagined all my teeth scattered on the floor. If I should point to a moment of horror, which took over my whole body, it was me seeing this guy entering the cell carrying a metal bar. But he just walked towards the window and did 'ti, ti ti' on the bars. This way, he found out whether an incision was made in the bars. Such relief! That horror and then all that relief - it is one of the strongest impressions I've had in life."
"We arrived to the border where they placed us in a adjacent empty parking lot and left us there. The police always did that. When they called people up, they liked to have them stewed. Marek had his leg broken and I was playing with him. After about half an hour, it all felt stupid and so I said: 'Well, Kathy, you go on and we will stay.' As soon as I said it - probably, they were listening in the whole time - they said: 'Get to the car and drive in.' And so we got to the car, drove towards the gate where one border guard came over and said: 'Mr. Tomin, do you have your doctoral diploma with you?' I said: 'Yes.' - 'Can you show it to us?' I said: 'Can you show me authorisation for such a request?' He came back in a couple minutes and said: 'Mr. Tomin, we are in touch with our HQ and they say that if you give us the diploma, you can go.' I told him: 'I know you can take it by force, open the car up - that's your business. But I'm not giving you the diploma voluntarily.' There was a line of car behind us and so they sent us back to the lot. I said: 'Of course, you can tow us there but voluntarily, we will only go forwards.' He left for another while, returned in a couple minutes and said: 'Mr. Tomin, here's your passport. You have won and we are sorry, it wasn't our idea.'"
"We sat there in the large room and I saw that there was no secret policeman present. So, I said: 'Listen, I haven't had any lectures in the past several weeks. I always invited someone - Hejdánek, Palouš, Jiří Němec, because I worked on Aristotle. Now, I am ready to give you an introduction to Aristotle, would you like to hear it?' Thay said they would. You can imagine... It was one of the strongest impressions - me telling Kenny that philosophy and Aristotle can make every moment a significant one - making an introduction to Aristotle in the Bartolomějská prison, that was something. I just finished the introduction when a secret policeman came over and said: 'What are you doing here?' I said: 'Philosophy, would you like to join in?' And he disappeared. Then some eight policemen in civilian clothes came over and shouted: 'All face the wall!' To my sad surprise, all of the students followed the order. I was walking around, and so they detained me as the first one for 48 hours. This was the last time I saw my students."
photo: USTR/Archiv Zdeny Tominové, Sbírka Post Bellum
photo: USTR/Archiv Zdeny Tominové, Sbírka Post Bellum
Download image
Julius Tomin was born on 2 December 1938 in Prague. Since his early years, he was brought up towards developing an interest in languages, literature and philosophy. He lived in Bohemia but graduated from high school in Slovakia. He studied at the University of Russian Language and Literature in Prague and worked at the board of the Association of Czechoslovak-Soviet Friendship. He then worked as a teacher in the village of Mútné, Slovakia. After refusing to undertake military service, he was imprisoned in Banská Bystrica. Following his release, he attempted to emigrate to India but was detained in Szczeczin and imprisoned once again, this time in the camp for political prisoners in Rtyně and in Libkovice. Following release, he did manual labor in forests and later studied philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy in Prague where he later worked as assistant professor. In the 1960s, he was among the initiators of a Christian-Marxist dialogue in Czechoslovakia. He lectured at universities in Heidelberg and Göttingen and shortly also in the USA. From 1969 till 1970 he was visiting professor at the University of Hawaii. After 1970, he worked in the waterworks and as a guard in the Prague ZOO. His academic work was supported by grants from West Germany. In the late 1970s, he organized unofficial philosophical seminars where he was able to secure the presence of top experts from all around the world. He faced persecution for his activities and was tortured by the secret police. In 1980, he left with his family for a study trip to Cambridge and soon thereafter, was stripped of Czechoslovak citizenship. He worked in Cambridge and Oxford, also lecturing at other universities in Great Britain and in South Africa. He is the author of a number of academic articles and publications.
