Přemysl Zdeněk

* 1946

  • “I am a family type. My task was always to provide a living for my family. When I went to Škoda factory, they advertised a flat. And my motto always was: “Earn money, take care of you family, enjoy nice holidays and live your life as it should be lived.”

  • “They came down the street to the radio building, stopped, turned the cannon against the building. The windows were full of people and when they turned the cannon against them, they all disappeared. Young boys broke branches and stuffed it up the cannon. They said it wouldn’t fire when the cannon is full of sticks. We rambled the whole city. At the station there were flame-throwers wall to wall, so there was just a narrow aisle for one. The soldiers checked everybody. The hammers were secured by normal breech sticks. We wondered, ‘Such a firing power and only such a stick for a safety lock…”

  • “After eight o’clock the Russians arrived in Pilsen and started seizing important places, such as the print house. The warehouse was full of Pravda newspaper, which they hadn’t managed to distribute. We broke through the war, took the newspapers into our centre, loaded them onto a truck, drove around Pilsen and gave away Pravda.”

  • “Five or seven years after the war, there hang across the whole wall, two and a half metre tall, one and a half metre wide, a picture of Hitler, in colour. When we went there, the windows were already smashed in, and we always said, ‘Let’s go for Hitler!’ We took stones in the field and threw it through the window. We hit Hitler in the eye.”

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    Plzeň, 09.08.2018

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    media recorded in project Příběhy regionu - PLZ REG ED
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+ narozen 2. října 1946 v Sušici + otec Čech, matka Slovenka, dělnická rodina v Nezamyslicích + škola a dětské hry ve Všerubech u Plzně + jaro 1953, vyšetřování pamětníkova otce kvůli dětskému pokřikování + 1962 – stěhování do Plzně, ukončení základní školy + 1962–1965 – učební obor spojový montér + 1965–1967 – základní vojenská služba, operátor radaru v Chotěšově + svatba, práce u plzeňských Spojů + 21. srpna 1968 – probourání do skladu tiskárny, kolportování novin Pravda, sledování příjezdu tanků k rozhlasu + práce v papírně + využití náboru ve Škodovce k získání bytu + práce v hutích, stal se členem Brigády socialistické práce, člen Vědeckotechnické společnosti + emigrace rodiny sestry do Bavorska, odvolání pamětníkovy stáže ve Švédsku + 1989 – po revoluci otevřené hranice, cestování na Západ + členství v Panevropské unii, vyšetřování činnosti proti republice + 2001 – odchod do důchodu + spokojený život v Plzni

Přemysl Zdeněk was born on October 2, 1946, in Sušice. His father, a Czech, and mother, a Slovak, found their family in Nezamyslice. Both were labourers. In 1947 they went to settle down in a cottage formerly belonging to the expelled Germans in Všeruby near Pilsen. Here he spent a happy childhood among many remains of the WWII. He saw his father being investigated over his own conduct at the time when Klement Gottwald died. He returned annually to Nezamyslice to see his relatives. It was at their place that he saw the collectivisation of the neighbouring village. After fifteen years, he and his parents moved to Pilsen. He apprenticed as the communication technician in Karlovy Vary. He did his military service in 1965 to 1967 in Chotěšov. He served as the operator of a survey anti-aircraft locator. He spent the year of 1968 as an employee of the Pilsen company Spoje [Communications]. On August 21, he took part in a raid on the warehouse of the newspaper Pravda. He and his colleagues then distributed the newspapers across Pilsen. He saw the arrival of Russian tanks in front of the Pilsen radio. After August, he refused to emigrate and managed to avoid persecution for resisting occupation. In the 1970s, he left Communications to paperworks. He last changed his job, transferring to Škodovka steelworks, in order to get a flat. He became a member of the Society of Science and Technology. In the 1980s, his sister’s family emigrated to Bavaria. Due to unreliability, his planned work stay in Sweden was cancelled. After the November revolution in 1989 he travelled abroad and became a member of the Pan-European Union. He has experienced investigation from the BIS (Czech Intelligence Service). He retired in 2001. He lives a happy life in Pilsen.