Jiří Koblížek

“The first problem occurred as late as in 1980. Stanislav Motl came to visit us in July 1980. He wrote this article about us (showing it in the chronicle), and he included a photo of a teepee in it. Nobody was interested in our activities, they were only interested in the teepee. It was published on Thursday, and at ten o’clock in the morning the children are calling me that there was somebody at the gate. I went there. There was a woman accompanied by another person, and she barked at me: ´Who are you?!´ No greeting at all. I replied: ´I should rather ask you who you are.´ She said she was a secretary of the regional committee of the Socialist Youth Organization and the chairwoman of the regional committee of Pioneer. I haven’t even seen the newspaper yet, and as soon as she got hold of it, she arrived. What was interesting was that the district committee of the Communist Party had carried out an inspection in our camp before, and they had no objections. The woman walked through the camp and as she passed by the teepee, she kicked it and asked: ´And nobody has told you anything yet because of this?´ - ´No, nobody,´ I replied.”

“In April 1982, members of the StB police began visiting schools and talking to all kids from our troop. They interrogated them about our activities. This lasted till the end of June. I was summoned for interrogation on July 1, 1982. When I called them and asked if it were possible to invite me on an earlier date, they obviously refused. I was to report to the police station on July 1, and we were to leave for our camp on July 3. The preparations proceeded normally, but I didn’t know if I would be able to leave for the camp at all. When I came to the police at the designated time, they told me that they were busy and ordered me to come again an hour later. It was a tough hour. When I came there, two policemen picked me up and led me into a long room. One sat down in an armchair by the door, and he didn’t say a single word throughout the interrogation. The other one sat down with this back against the window and ordered me to sit on the right side. I didn’t know who actually did the speaking on my part. I couldn’t recognize myself. When he asked me the first question, I felt relieved and all my nervousness, and all that has accumulated within me during the years, was suddenly gone. I brought all the diplomas with me, which we had won during the Pioneer Trail of Courage contests. There were many of them. In 1979, our troop placed first in all three boys’ categories in the district of Hradec Králové. I wasn’t speaking, actually, it was somebody else who did the speaking. It took about an hour. When I was leaving the room, I asked him if he could tell me how all this actually originated. ´We do not provide information of this kind.´ But what was more important was the sentence which followed. I asked: ´And wouldn’t it have been better if you had interrogated me first, and then the children?´ - ´We have our own methods.´ And that was it.”