Jiří Zajíc

“I chose twelve boys from the group of twenty-four, the ones whose families I considered reliable, and in June 1971 we went to Nedrahovice to camp for the first time.” - “The families had to be reliable as it was still Scouting? - “As it was an activity that was obviously 'hostile' to the new regime. - “Because of your approach?” - “Sure. My approach wasn´t primarily a political one, I just tried to educate the boys so they would strive for the truth, for them to be honest, not to lie and help those on whom harm is being inflicted. In fact, to behave normally, which clearly meant to go against the regime in the time of the Normalisation. As back then, to lie, to back down and to ignore those who were being oppressed was considered 'normal'.

“Palach´s deed had a huge impact on you, I would imagine... “ - “An immense one. That´s why I can´t bear all the talk that it was meaningless. And most of all, when young people today would say – what had he accomplished? His accomplishment was, for example, that people like me kept telling themselves: “Yes, if he could do that, I couldn´t yield, I couldn´t betray.” That was the crux of the matter.” - “As an example of integrity and bravery?” - “As an example of bravery. He sacrificed his life for the cause. As for myself, I won´t self-immolate, but I also wouldn´t leave the children, for whom I had responsibility, and I would try to keep alive the hope for them, that our lives could be more honest.”

“In November 1968, we joined the student strike, being the first secondary school joining the protest. For me, it was a crucial turning point in my life.” – „Could you explain why? “– „As at that moment I went from my childhood straight into adulthood. We had great teachers at the secondary school, but the school authorities – Mrs Roháčková, the director, and the Communist party district chairman Kváča, they soon took on a new course, knowing that the times were changing. So as we came to them stating that we would like to join the strike which started at the universities, they refused, stating that that was out of the question. And as we insisted, they stated: 'Allright, go on, but we can´t take responsibility for the kids who will be here. That you have to arrange with your parents.' And they thought they´ve solved it. That was on Monday afternoon. And in the evening, there was a Parents´ evening. And our group decided that we would attend all the meetings and we would tell the parents. And indeed, we were standing there in front of the parents being just seventeen-years-old, telling them that there had to be a strike and why it was necessary. And most of the parents would support us. So since Wednesday, there was really a student strike. We invited Karel Kyncl, as his daughter Irena went to school with us, and Vladimír Ráž, Dana Medřická.... In short, we organised a two-day strike. As the seventeen-year-olds. We had the full responsibility regarding the school and everything that would happen there.”

“Drawing on history, I saw the importance of politics for life. And I saw a certain moral dimension of it, which many people haven´t been able to comprehend nowadays, I would say. The society is made by the means of politics, on every level that is important. What has been taught in schools, how the care for the elderly has been provided, how children would be brought up – everything that matters has been decided by the means of politics.”