František Hron

* 1953

  • "The emotions were there. We had kept correspondence with pupils from Russia, we had to do that in the eighth or ninth form. I had been writing with a girl called Natasha, and when they [Russians] stormed in, I tore up all the letters. I had one photograph left. Looking back later, I thought I had been an idiot, that it hadn´t been her fault."

  • "The year 1970 came and after the last camp we [Scouts] were dissolved. We were told that we could either go to Pioneer organization or just do nothing. Our leader Bohdan said no. So we officially divided up the things that were left, like tents, as rewards, so that we wouldn't have to give them to Pioneer groups. And we were dissolved. Actually, I had a folded tent at home for twenty years, interlaid with newspapers."

  • "I remember 1968, when my mother woke me up in the morning and said: 'Franta, get up, we are at war.' We turned on the TV and they said to keep calm. We were still living in Komenská Street. Then, on the evening of 22 August, they [occupation soldiers] came to Jihlava for the first time. They ran over a boy in front of the library on the square. This has turned out into a legend. It is said he jumped on the first soldier's barrel and the next one [tank] ran him over. But I know he was taken to the hospital. We don't know what really happened. Then, when we woke up next morning, there was a tank in Komenská Street, facing the square. At that time, my sister and I didn't understand what might happen to us, so we started signing various leaflets, we were wearing tricolours, and since we still could speak Russian quite well, we were trying to explain something to them [soldiers]. They just said it was a counter-revolution. If they had started shooting, we could have paid for it, too. They would not shy away from anything."

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    Jihlava, 28.09.2021

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Scout tent waited folded in a wardrobe for twenty years

František Hron, as a child at the age of 3
František Hron, as a child at the age of 3
photo: Witness´s archive

František Hron was born on 14 January 1953 in Jihlava. He was led to religious belief from a young age and served as an altar boy at St. James Church in Jihlava until starting his military service. In 1970 he became a member of the local Scout group. However, the joy of Scouting activities did not last too long, as the communists banned Junák [Czech Scouting organization, trans.] that same year. He became a member the Czechoslovak People’s Party. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, he participated in the renewal of Scouting in Jihlava, he became a leader and held many other positions, for which he was awarded, among other things, the Scout Medal of Thanks. He also has the Gold Medal of Professor Janský for blood donation. He and his wife Ludmila have four sons, whom, naturally, they brought up in the Scout spirit.