Communism did not bring anything good
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Alois Brejcha was born on 30 June 1943 in Starý Plzenec into a large family of successful businessmen and is related to actresses Jana and Hana Brejchová. The Brejchas’ prosperous business ended in the early 1950s. Grandfather Alois Brejcha lost his shop and funeral business, and the communists also destroyed the thriving Brejcha Printing House. Its original owner, Ervín Brejcha, later committed suicide in prison. Other relatives were also oppressed by the regime. The witness´s aunt Zdeňka Milotová and her son died tragically by the hand of the national property administrator. Alois Brejcha grew up in poor conditions and could not study for political reasons. Nevertheless, he made it to university. Due to a family tragedy, he had to leave it to work in heavy industry and support his family, including his two younger siblings. In August 1968 he witnessed the arrival of Soviet troops in Starý Plzenec, the material damage and the different behaviour of the local population towards the occupiers. In the 1970s, the regime sent him as a respected technologist to build a glass factory in Ramadi, Iraq. Later he also worked in Bangladesh, although his attitude towards the Communist Party was negative. After 1989, his expectations regarding restitution were not fulfilled, but the family tradition continues - today his son Petr Brejcha runs a successful business in his family home on the square.