“On July 1, 1945, Captain Hájek took me in his car in Most, drove me to Prague and there appointed me a member of the National Security. I graduated of the Police School in 1947. My ranks were private, corporal and then constable. Finally I got a uniform. Prior to that we were dressed in rags. Then they sent us for two years to the border, to Kryštofovy Hamry. There was a brook between Germany and us, swamplands in which we captured the Germans. We waited for them at night and I even managed to catch with two. They were armed, as I was naturally too.”
“I drove Che Guevara. He visited Czechoslovakia two years in a row while serving as minister of foreign trade and minister of industry. He used to say: ‘When I get home, I will pass my functions to Fidel.’ That he did and then went to help out his friends somewhere in Latin America where they killed him. I also drove Brezhnev, Khachaturian, Khrushchev, Marshal Konev, emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie who then gave me the order of the Golden Star of Ethiopia, the Belgian king. The Belgian king later invited me to Luxembourg and organized for me and my wife a trip to South Africa.”
“They took us in a car and drove us to Prague. Me and my two colleagues. They selected two from the platoon by the border. In Prague, we started fighting for Gottwald to become President. We slept where we could, in Vršovice for instance, at the place where the Slavia arena is today, or in Přípotoční street. We slept on the floor and where we could and from there we went to Prague to fight against the National Socialists. And indeed we won and Gottwald became President.”
“There was a meeting point near Roháč’s barracks and I was appointed there as the best driver – among other things, I also knew German as well as Russian. Security guard of the president had been formed there; it was initially named ‘Castle’, later ‘Fifth Administration’ and eventually ‘Eight Administration’. I had served at the Castle for thirty-fife years altogether. I would buy vehicles for the Castle, getting them in Kopřivnice and Mladá Boleslav. Besides, I also purchased BMWs.”
“They refused to let us in the Castle. Beneš was President. But they wanted Gottwald to become the new president. Various people went against us, the youth etc. They didn’t want to let us go to the Castle. And when Gottwald became President, we didn’t let them go. We went with him to the Old Town Square, where he spoke. It was still in ruins from German tanks. There a stage, we stood in front of him and he spoke already as the President. Then I drove him from Prague to Brno. And I stood beside him. I have a story related to him. He loved Cognac. There were no testers then, so I had to drink and only then passed the bottle to him and he drank.”
“In 1947 I graduated from police school. I was awarded officer ranking and finally also got a uniform. Then I had spent two years guarding the border at Kryštofovy Hamry. The unit was stationed in Přísečnice, through Kryštofovy Hamry a creek flowed, marking the border between Germany and Czechoslovakia. There were swamps there, we would go there armed and watch for refugees at night. I even managed to detain two armed ones.”
Augustin Karel was born on the 1st of October 1927 in Přední Hloubětín. Since he was fifteen years old, he began to gain experience as a driver and in 1945 could, therefore, participate in battles against “Werewolves” in the Most region. In July 1945, he was appointed a member of the National Security Corps of the Czechoslovak police. In 1947, he graduated from police school and became an officer, later serving for two years with the border patrol. After the February 1948 coup, he became a member of the president’s security guard and drove the cars of Czechoslovak presidents and foreign visitors. Because of his suspected sympathy to the ideas of the Prague Spring, in 1970 he had to go on a forced leave. After five years, he was pardoned and named deputy commander of the unit responsible for securing the president and governmental officials. He served in this role until his retirement in 1982.
