Ing. Zdeněk Friml

* 1934

  • "When they ran a background check on me in 1971 and consequently kicked me out of the Party, I pointed out that I had not been there and that I had not signed anything. I still remember that someone from the committee said: ‘But you would have signed, comrade!’ I shrugged my shoulders because it was probably true. They kicked me from the Party but luckily, I kept my job. Then I found out that I was filed as a mistaken intellectual. I could do what I liked but I could not go for business trips, not even to East Germany, I could not publish anything. I wanted to do a Ph. D., I passed a few exams but I was banned from pursuing any further education and I was not allowed any workplace advancements. I still filed some patents and petty patents but in order for them to be applied, it had to be co-signed by someone from the management or else they would not be used.”

  • „There was an all-school meeting and a hardcore Communist, Miss Sovová, had a speech there and they forced us to sign a resolution that we request the death penalty for Milada Horáková. Luckily, there was a teacher who had some sense and quite some courage who exclaimed: ‚Comrades, those children should not want anyone’s death, let’s vote for something different.’ So I voted for the most strict penalty. I still had no idea what the meeting was about, what I was talking about. Those were difficult times.”

  • „‘You’re an engineer, you have the gadgets so in the afternoon, we’ll pack it and go there, I’ll sort out the electricity!’ I pondered about it for a while, I have to admit, but then I grabbed the sound system and left for the town square. At the first demonstration, we had two fifteen watt tin loudspeakers, that’s like an old car radio, one microphone and one amplifier which I had for listening to my records. It was that easy. We were not in the best place mentally. We were standing in the arcaded walk across the square from the town hall and I will never forget the moment when we first heard them from the hill and then we saw the crowd approaching and shouting: ‘We are here!’ and other slogans. Then, it became clear that it was a done deal, that nobody is going to arrest us, beat us up and destroy the sound system.”

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    Hradec Králové, 01.02.2023

    (audio)
    duration: 02:27:44
    media recorded in project Příběhy regionu - HRK REG ED
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But you could, comrade, sign that you do not agree with the Soviet occupation so we will expel you!

Zdeněk Friml (front) and DJ Hodr in the Hifi club in Jaroměř. 1983
Zdeněk Friml (front) and DJ Hodr in the Hifi club in Jaroměř. 1983
photo: Archiv pamětníka

Zdeněk Friml was born on the 23rd of June in 1934 in Jaroměř but he and his parents lived in Trutnov. In 1938, after the annexation of Sudeten, they were expelled and moved to Jaroměř. In 1940, he started attending boys’ school and in 1944, he enrolled at a Gymnasium. At the end of the WWII, he saw the Jeeps with the American soldiers going to Velichovky where General E. Schörmer had his quarters. In 1949, he started studying at the secondary technical school in Prague and later at the University of Chemistry and Technology where he specialised for power plants. He graduated in 1958 and started to work in the Opatovice nad Labem power plant. In 1960, he got married at the Old Town Hall in Prague. He worked in the research department of of the ZAZ tannery in Jaroměř, later in the Research and Development Institute of Leather Goods in Hradec Králové. In 1967, he joined the Communist Party. After the August 1968 occupation, he was expelled from the party, demoted from his management position and forbidden from publishing. In November 1989, he managed the technical background and sound systém at the protests and meetings in Jaroměř. He became the speaker of the Jaroměř chapter of the Civic Forum and got co-opted to the town council. He joined the Civic Democratic Party and served several terms in the town ocuncil. In 1990, he started his own business. In 2023, he lived in Jaroměř.