František Kadlec

* 1963

  • „It was the largest demonstration after a really a long time, people were becoming less and less afraid and many people came. Then there was a march, there they stopped us, they did not let us continue across the bridge, across the Vltava river. We thus went back to Václavské náměstí [Wenceslas' Square] and on the Václavské náměstí, I remember there was a girl with the [Czechoslovak] flag, she was running and four plainclothes policemen were chasing her, then they caught her and dragged her on the pavement. I couldn't stand it, I wanted to help her and get her away. But, an officer came running, sprayed the pepper spray in my eyes and they dragged me to a police van. And I remember that there was an Argentinian, or a Spaniard, some tourist, and he was totally crazy, he screamed there that he has nothing to do with this. However, they took us to the Ruzyně prison and I spent four days there.“

  • “At that time, I was five and I was playing with a friend in the curb in front of our house. We lived in a council flat in Chrást, on that road where you go to Rosice. And my mom run outside, she yelled terribly, and in a while, armoured personnel carriers passed by, Russian ones, and we were skulking in the curb and the APCs passed us. I remember that we were awfully scared, mom was crying, hysterical, then she grabbed us and dragged us home. This is my major recollection of 1968. And I remember the graffiti. I know that my dad and my brother used to go and write something on the road with white paint and they turned around the street signs. And I remember the banners and graffiti 'Dubček is our hero'. I know there is a photograph of me, I'm licking my ice cream and behind me, there is a banner that says 'Dubček is our hero'.”

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    Hradec Králové, 16.12.2019

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I listened to Voice of America under my duvet since I had been twelve

František Kadlec at the first "Czech Woodstock" music festival, June 1990
František Kadlec at the first "Czech Woodstock" music festival, June 1990
photo: Archiv pamětníka

František Kadlec was born on the 22th February of 1963 in Chrudim. As a small boy, he would often hear stories about his grandfather František Kadlec who had participated in the anti-Nazi resistance and had died two days before the end of the war in Terezín. When he attended basic school, he started wearing his hair long and became interested in public matters. When he attended trade school in Pardubice, his schoolmates introduced him to the underground community. After he graduated from the trade school, he started to work in the Tesla electrical company in Pardubice. He spent his compulsory army service as a signaller in the military unit at Svatý Tomáš at the Austrian border. The first major counter-regime demonstration in which he participated was on the 21th August of 1988. He was arrested and held in police custody for four days. He was released only with a reprimand but even this experience did not deter him from participating in other protests. After the 17th November 1989 and the news about the massacre of demonstrating students, he was one of the organisers of the first protests in Chrudim. The first meeting was attended only by a handful of people and František Kadlec read the declaration from the students who were on a strike. He was one of the founders of the Civic Forum in Chrudim but about a week later, he withdrew from public activities. Since the 1990’, he’s been organising a music festival in Chrudim and he still organises the legendary Underground Football Cup.