Vlasta Ulrychová, roz. Michlová

“I was a good friend of Jana Petrová, who helped Kocáb oust the Soviet soldiers. They said that when she came to the barracks the officers thought how they’d make short work of her. But they were this small. That girl knocked them flat, she was smart.”

“When Mr Procházka returned in the Sixties - I knew him a bit from Scouting - I saw him going - we didn’t expect him to return at all - to the graveyard. So I ran out after him and I ran to him, to greet him. And tears welled up in his eyes and he said: ‘Vlastička, almost no one greeted me, they were crossing over to the other side just to avoid greeting me, and you welcome me like this.’ Well, of course.”

“I said: ‘Sorry for disturbing you,’ and Galuška said: ‘You would like?’ I told him I was bringing albums, and if he might sign them, and he agreed to right willingly. And Slávek (chairman of the Local National Committee) was in such a fluster about it that he got up and left. And they said: ‘Stay here with us then.’ But I told them not to be angry, but that I absolutely cannot afford to do that, as Slávek would have a heart attack. Galuška sat, his back shaking with laughter, he was writing something extra into the albums. Then some comrade from Hradec came along, asking what everyone was signing, and I said: ‘Nothing for you, nothing for you.’ Some bloke from Hradec who just came there to stuff himself with food, certainly not. And those two slyboots - the directors Makovec and Brdečka - they were watching, so I turned to them and asked them to sign too. And they were quite willing to do so: ‘Nurse, I’m a Scout too. Don’t mind what we’re saying here, it’s none of their business.’ So we chatted; they were both pretty cheeky, and they said: ‘Stay here, so that there’s some fun to be had, it’s like a morgue here otherwise.’”

“We always staid up late during the gatherings, telling each other anecdotes and all sorts of things. When something dangerous was being said, one of the boys went outside to smoke, to see if anyone was listening outside. And one time I sat close to the window and I caught a glimpse of something outside. So I said: ‘Is one of us outside?’ But everyone was inside. So one of us, I don’t know who, rushed out the door, and the person outside legged it. Except that there was a deep ditch beyond the forest. They drove up there in secret and fell into it with their car; they were revving the motor there for about an hour, but they couldn’t come to us for help, of course, they’d give themselves away. It was wonderful.”

“I very much respected and admired that my parents were both such anti-Communists. It is usually said that people who are poor tend towards Communism. But I used to say that it’s more lazy people who do that, because my parents were amazingly hard-working.”