Jiří Vik

* 1931  †︎ 2023

  • "So we went to Pardubice to Rotunda. The Kmoníček orchestra played there. That was classy for us, but it had a drawback. We had to go to the army afterwards, and by then we were being chased. We really danced, you don't know today. Do you know the jive? Do you know what it used to be called? Jitterbug. We used to do the jitterbug and of course the mozzies didn't like that. It got so far, and I'm ashamed of it, that we broke it up. I wasn't the best dancer, there were others who were excellent from the Party Lords, but I liked to dance too, of course. We were urged by the microphone when we danced to our songs to stop, there was a danger they might not play there next time. I'm ashamed of that, but we didn't stop. And what happened? A fortnight later we arrived there and there was a brass band playing."

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    Třebechovice pod Orebem, 12.11.2023

    (audio)
    duration: 04:36:07
    media recorded in project The Stories of Our Neigbours
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He mocked the Communists. He fought them by dancing

Jiří Vik in the early 1950s
Jiří Vik in the early 1950s
photo: Archive of a witness

Jiří Vik was born on January 10, 1931. His father travelled a lot for work, but eventually settled with his family in Třebechovice pod Orebem, where he attended primary school and later also a business academy, which he did not complete. His father was forced to join the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) in 1948, but he did not resist the pressure of local officials and ended his life by suicide the same year. The tragic death of his father affected the whole family. The witness no longer had a firm grip on himself, he did not finish high school and started to learn to be a furrier. In 1952, Jiří Vik entered compulsory military service, and soon after he returned home, his mother died. However, he was unable to work as a furrier, so he joined the civil engineering department, worked his way up and in the 1980s travelled to England for work. On his return home he worked for the State Forestry Service. He and his wife raised two children. Jiří Vik died in June 2023.