Kamil Zajíček

* 1965

  • „Naše trestní stíhání bylo po čtyřech měsících zastaveno, protože jsem se navedl na svého přítele v Opavě, disidenta Ivoše Mludka, který byl napojen na ostravskou cestu ke svobodě, kdy to propojili a zahlásili na Svobodné Evropě nejen tento příběh o Janu Zajícovi, ale i o trestním stíhání bratrů Huškových. A VONS dal celý příběh do roviny, že jestli tady míní za toto trestat lidi, takže ne. Krajský prokurátor to stáhl, že nebylo nabyto nějakých faktů. Tudíž bylo trestní stíhaní zastaveno. Nebylo ale zastaveno to, že svazek uvedený na mě, kde jsem byl označen jak Hus, nevím jestli je to jen zkrácené Huška nebo je to jméno našeho velkého Jana, ale je to příjemné. Nicméně tento svazek potom byl dál bohatší a bohatší o to, že jsem byl často brán na výslechy. Ať to bylo na předvolání nebo například ať jsem šel z práce, vyfáral jsem, tak už auto bylo připraveno před fabrikou, odvezli mě do Ostravy na posezení a dle libosti onich vyšetřovatelů jsem si tam poseděl tři hodiny, aniž by se se mnou někdo o něčem bavil, zase mě pustili. A nebo měli spoustu dotazů, na které vlastně nebylo co odpovídat. Řekněme si to dnes popravdě a s podivem, ale všechno věděli. Něco věděli z toho, když jsme byli kontrolovaní na setkání undergroundu, na koncertech. Potom tam byly už takové zvláštnosti, kdy věděli víc, chtěli se víc dozvědět, ale ono pak bylo takové desatero, jak se chovat při výsleších, prakticky neodpovídat a když už popřípadě něco podepisuji, tak to pročmrkat tak, že tam nebylo možno něco dopsat.“

  • “There was this twentieth anniversary so we had to pay a homage to this great man. So we organised a football match to honour his memory. We would invite a few friends. And I would buy some flowers and those who didn´t play would go and lay bunches of flowers on the grave. Those who came back told us that they were all around, that there were policeman patrolling, not letting people to the graveyard. However, me and my brother, we went there as well. And we us, we had been carrying a petition we had written to Husák. We wrote him a letter, stating what we didn´t like. Of course, we had mentioned human rights, the Charter 77, that Václav Havel had to be released from prison and so on. And they would confiscate it and file it immediately. Right after that they would do a house search, finding several other materials. So we had been prosecuted. But I had already been living with my friends n Opava back then so I had been in contact with the Chater 77 people. And when they heard on the Radio Free Europe that they had arrested the Huška brothers and they are prosecuting them, Ivo Mludek from Opava asked me whether I wanted them to help me, that VONS was engaged in such kind of things and that he believes they would help me. So thanks to VONS, we had been pardoned at last.”

  • “There were these boys living in the high rises and for me, they had been what I wanted to become. Long hair, jeans, they were so free and unrestrained human beings. And if you would decide to look like one of them, then you would. I never had much hair on my head, and despite the fact that it made me sad, I compensated by living with people who were like me, bald and fat, but nice. And as the clothing was concerned, it was obvious. The worse you would look, the more you would be appealing for some people and they would take you in. 'A's were the boys ten or more years older, and we were calling ourselves 'B's. And we had been telling ourselves that one day maybe we would become 'A's. Of course, the boys got soft as they came back brainwashed from our glorious Czechoslovak People´s Army, and then my time had come. I might say I was one of the leading máničkas in Vítkov. The culture and the whole culture of life had been deeply connected with that of course. Which means that we were not at home at all. All the time, we would go out to meet friends. To South Moravia, to Praha or to 'New Jersey' – to Nový Jičín and Opava.”

  • “During such a raid a policeman would come, he would check your ID, and when he was in a bad mood, he would hit you with a baton and take you into the police van. Then they would drive you out of the city to the fields and they would throw you out. And when they were in a bad mood, they would smash your face. We didn´t know where we were. Looking back now I consider it a beginning of my tourist career. So I should be grateful. They had shown me the way I am following till today, that I am a walker and I love to walk.”

  • Full recordings
  • 1

    Jeseník, 13.11.2019

    (audio)
    duration: 01:47:48
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
  • 2

    Jeseník, 20.11.2019

    (audio)
    duration: 35:27
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
  • 3

    Jeseník, 11.04.2024

    (audio)
    duration: 02:05:39
    media recorded in project Stories of the region - Central Moravia
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Before that, I was telling myself that I couldn´t have a family as I could have been blackmailed by the Secret Police, then I felt that freedom came so I could start a family

Kamil Huška (Zajíček), a portrait
Kamil Huška (Zajíček), a portrait
photo: archiv pamětníka

Kamil Zajíček (born Huška) was born on Augst 25th of 1965 in Vítkov. Since his youth, he sought the company of long-haired friends called ‘máničky’ back then. In 1983, he started his compulsory military service as a patrol unit member. Despite the fact that after a year of hazing, bullying and humiliation, he was now considered a senior soldier and could expect better conditions, he still thought about leaving the army prematurely. In the end, he managed to leave his unit half a year before his term as he signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with the OKD. There he joined an elite mining crew at the Rudý říjen (The Red October) mine in Ostrava-Heřmanice, known for its outstanding performances. Unlike his colleagues, he was aware of the totalitarian nature of the communist regime and opposed it actively. He had been distributing samizdat literature, screening banned films and participated in protests. On February 25th 1989, Kamil Zajíček and his brother tried to organise a commemoration of Jan Zajíc´s self-immolation in Vítkov, on the twentieth anniversary of his deed. However, they had been arrested by the police. Apart from the samizdat literature and other paraphernalia, policemen confiscated their petition addressing president Gustáv Husák during the house search, in which they urged him for human rights and international agreements to be respected. Then, charges had been brought against both of them for breaching the peace by the authorities. Kamil Zajíček had been repeatedly interrogated by the Secret Police and he had been transferred to a job position with a much lower salary. After their case had been covered by the Radio Free Europe, charges against them were dropped in June of 1989. Since March 1989, Kamil Zajíček has been living in Jeseník, where he also married Dana Zajíčková in August 1991, taking her surname and fathering four children. In March 2019, he received the Certificate for Participation in anti-communist Opposition and Resistance.