Josef Evan

* 1959

  • "Imagine the kid who sees the train and tanks loaded up on a train. The first thing he cares about is how to get onto the tanks, how to get in. That is, the feeling was that we could see something we might not have, maybe we should rather not have done it, but we were curious and we were always looking forward as about four trains loaded with technique arrived that day. We were just boys enthusiastic about seeing something that none of us was used to seeing. When we left the camp to go home, the leaders gave us shirts and tricolor t-shirts to make clear, who we were to cheer and what it ought to look like at home."

  • "At that time, in 1968, Soviet troops invaded our country. We at the first grades, knew that the cooks or inspectors were in a strange mood, and we were very excited to wave at the trains passing at the other side of the Sazava river loaded with military equipment. It is obvious that we did not know who was coming, or not coming, or who did it and how. So we simply were glad we saw soldiers and tanks, but we did not know the reason."

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    ZŠ Školní 75, Příbram VIII, 14.12.2017

    (audio)
    duration: 27:33
    media recorded in project The Stories of Our Neigbours
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The teachers were giving us tricolors on our shirts in August 1968 so that we knew, how it ought to look in our home.

Josef Evan 1969
Josef Evan 1969
photo: archiv pamětníka

Josef Evan was born in 1959. His grandfather owned 18 hectares of land and after 1948 he was forced to join the united agricultural cooperative. His father worked as a steel gardener in the United steel factory in Kladno. In August 1968 Josef Evan was at the Sázava Pioneer Camp and saw the trains bringing heavy military equipment. He was always actively playing sports, such as hockey, football, football and practised gymnastics. Since 1978 he has served in the army, where he has achieved the rank of major. He trained hockey and after leaving the army he began to teach physical education and chemistry at the 6th Primary School in Příbram. After completing the pedagogical minimum he worked for eight years as director of the elementary school in Nečín. Today he teaches mathematics and physics at the 5th Primary School in Příbram.