Roland Berauer

* 1935  †︎ 2025

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
/
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Progress: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time -0:00
 
1x
  • "It was then going to the commission. That was a committee at the Artists' Union. And they judged whether it was just capable, I mean, it was, and they judged the price, mainly. Well we were there just with the proposal to that pub, the Salzmann's. And I don't know what happened then, I mean, yeah, we were sitting there, drinking cognac, vanessa, I mean. And we came up to the line and we had a price on it of about ninety thousand, I mean, right. Well, the painters just said, 'This doesn't belong to us, you go to the next commission, there's sculptors there, they could judge it.' Well, we were fed up because we were waiting... for your turn and everything. Well, so Mirek Hrubý says, 'Well, ninety didn't seem right to them, so let's make it a hundred and thirty.' Well, so we went to the sculptors, right. And, 'Well, it's not our field, but okay, the price is right.'"

  • "And it started banging. Well, there was still some guy behind me, and when it went off a second time, we were standing by a shop window that had emptied, so he jumped into the shop and I, when I saw it, I got hit by some shrapnel, it twisted my lens a little bit, but then I had a bit of a splash. So I jumped in after him, I mean. But when we got inside... We could hide there, I mean, yeah, but it was a drugstore and there was paint and thinners. And now, as it started to burn, they were flying around, and the shop started to burn. Well, the only door that led to the yard, I mean, to the house, that was boarded up. And it opened inwards. I was scared there, I mean, because we couldn't open the door, I mean, right. And it started to burn. And then we managed to break off a piece of the door down there, and we just slipped out into the yard. Well, through those yards, that was all right."

  • "Here, under that Italian, two trucks stopped there. But with no one. There was only the driver. Well, they didn't notice anybody, of course. But of course people were curious to see what all was on the car. And so they got on the cars and started throwing down just everything that was there. And this one driver came running out and said let's run away, there's grenades, I mean. And of course they set the cars on fire. So I'm across the street... I leaned over, there were these old acacia trees. And I was waiting to see what would happen to the grenades."

  • Full recordings
  • 1

    Praha, 20.01.2021

    (audio)
    duration: 01:08:26
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
  • 2

    Praha, 21.01.2021

    (audio)
    duration: 01:08:01
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
Full recordings are available only for logged users.

I was never easy for me

Roland Berauer in his youth
Roland Berauer in his youth
photo: archive of a witness

Roland Berauer was born on March 4, 1935 in Pec pod Sněžkou into a German family. During the Second World War he lived with his brother and father in Josefov near Jaroměř. Part of the family was affected by the post-war deportation of the German inhabitants. Roland spent two years in a Salesian orphanage. His father ended up in Soviet captivity after the war, from where he returned after several years. The family moved several times after that until they settled in Kersk in Central Bohemia. Roland trained as a miner and then worked for five years in the mine in Kladno. During that time he also met Bohumil Hrabal. He subsequently assembled scaffolding and continued in this profession until his retirement. He was involved in the construction of the broad gauge railway in Košice, the construction of a hospital in Mongolia, the repair of St. Vitus Cathedral, the construction of the highway and the filming of Amadeus. He devoted his whole life to photography, in 1968 he worked in the editorial office of the magazine Scout Junák. He documented the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops in August 1968 and the funeral of Jan Palach. Roland Berauer died on January 14, 2025.