Jaromír Jan Jech

"I was talking to my wife about it and she said: ‘Go to that meeting then.‘ So I went there and that meeting became my fate after 1989. There were masses of people talking about everything that must be done, what changes are on the way, and then it was the end of it. I was saying to myself: ‘That‘s nice but now what? If we want something, we must know what we’re going to do, how we will proceed.‘ This was a day after my arrival and then I immediately became a member of the Civic Forum. But not on the first day yet. Then I only started addressing few people I had known and trusted, right on the spot. Those were people I used to play ice-hockey with for instance or who used to be my teachers, some of them were acquaintances from a concert or a theatre group… So I started approaching them saying that things might change again in three days but we need to be prepared in a way. I used to have a notebook where I‘d put their names and phone numbers and somehow started managing the following events.“

“I have a list of countries you have travelled to for business or study – UK, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Italy, Israel. You have been to them all…“ - “I have and I’ve examined how public administration works there. Starting from the municipal level to the regions though they don‘t have everywhere, up to the top level. I visited Donetsk in the Ukraine. I was there with Petr Pithart whom I like very much. I could feel the hopelessness there. Historically, they’re in much worse situation than we are. Feudalism was replaced by the Soviet regime right away. Everything was under its control – factories, schools, supplies. Then it all collapsed, the market went completely wild and there were tens of per cent of unemployed people who languished literally on the street. And at the same time some non-profit organisations from Sweden and Norway in a good faith with their eyes alight, on creaky chairs sharing one computer – but that‘s not what matters the most. What matters is that there’s no connection to public administration. This is essential for every country that has something in common with that Euro-Atlantic civilization of ours, with democracy. There has to be a connection with public administration. That‘s why the legislation exists. Municipalities have some responsibilities here. It’s another matter if they outsource for instance the care for the elderly to a non-profit organization. But it’s impossible to do so without rules that just weren’t there. This confirmed to me the need to build that link between municipalities, regions, and national government and consequently extend it to include all matters affecting people‘s lives.

How can you possibly remember that… I admire all the people who have known that communism was an enemy since they were six. In my family it was a kind of funny. We shared our house with my mum’s parents. My granddad was wounded in World War I, coincidentally on the same day that I was born, and he would always celebrate this day as his second birthday. Even though his left arm had been permanently disabled, he gave up his disability compensation in favour of the country. My grandparents were great supporters of Masaryk. They strongly supported the First Republic. They also built their own house before retirement but the communists put tenants in it which was hard for them to bear. And my grandma was so special. She used to go to church, crucified Jesus Christ was hanging there but she would insist on her own version: ‘The communists did it to him.’ On the other hand, parents did not patronize us much. I was a member of the Pioneer organization, got a red scarf and felt proud of it at my age. But grandma would say: ‘Watch out, it‘s the communists who did it.‘ And at times when some goods was scarce, which did not really bother me much as a child, my grandma would show me decorative soaps shaped as apples or lemons and say: ‘It was us, the capitalists, who made these.’