Marcela Wallenfelsová

“There were three groups of people who worked there. There were experts, that was the lowest caste. Those were specialists in agriculture, civil engineering, geological exploration. There were really a lot of geologists there. The second, higher caste consisted of employees of the sales department. They had a lot of advantages, they had diplomatic status, they received special benefits. Then there were the people working at the embassy, those were people with special screening, that was a caste that we subordinates were not actually allowed to get in touch with. The very amusing thing was that the absolutely lowest caste of all were the wives of experts. Say, it happened to me one time that we wanted to get on the lift, and the head of the sales department walked up, pushed us two women aside and said: ‘What are experts’ wives doing getting in the way like this?! I take precedence.’ He got on the lift, the door closed, and we waited for the next one to come. So we were the lowest placed caste of all.”

“Basically, everyone had to participate in May Day parades. So you’d go to the meeting point, where you’d make the rounds of the important people like background profilers and directors, so they’d notice you’d really been there. Then every citizen bought the stuff they sold at the meeting places. Scarce bananas, scarce sausages, some better-quality rolls... When you made the rounds like that, you could slowly look to slip off home again. Sometimes you succeeded, sometimes you failed. Some of your colleagues who were better placed then began to keep watch on you. One time some - I think it was a teacher of Marxism-Leninism - caught me by the hand and said: ‘Come on, let’s go together.’ So I couldn’t escape, and I really did pass by the grandstand. We talked about that with my husband yesterday... The people around mostly raised their hands and shouted: ‘Long live Comrade Novotný!’ And I felt terribly awkward. I wasn’t able to raise my hand and shout. So I kind whispered: ‘Long live Comrade...’, but it was awfully unpleasant. Only very few people actually reached the grandstand because most people legged it into the side streets, or suddenly set off against the flow. So I think that the people on the grandstand didn’t have to stay there for long because the parade passed by very quickly.”