“We left the prison as young boys, we were nobody. No education, no training degrees, nothing. We must have started all over again...”
Mr. Jiří Kopřiva was one of the students from the State Gymnasium in Litomyšl that took part in the student sabotage of the labor union strike on February 24th, 1948. From 1948 to 1949 he met with his anti-communist friend named Miroslav Matějka - a son of a farmer. They often met at the Restaurant Na Hrádku, where they discussed the possibilities of the anti-regime protest. Their first opportunity came in the spring of 1949 when their Gymnasium classmate named Míla Kohout produced a leaflet entitled Colleagues. He complained about the politics of the Czechoslovak Youth organization and criticized the pressure caused by the Scouting organization Junák. Mr. Kopřiva joined this cause and attended a few meetings. The student group, named Hvězda (Star), was unfortunately dissolved very quickly. It happened rather by coincidence after an unrelated event occurred in June of 1949. Two Technical school students tore down pictures of President Gottwald and the Soviet president J. V. Stalin hanging in the State Gymnasium. As authorities began their investigation they also found out about the student’s anti-political activities. The author of the leaflet was arrested and questioned. His friends and classmates were subsequently questioned by StB agents (StB - former State secret communist police) between 1949 and 1950. The content of Mr. Jiří Kopřiva’s meetings and conversations were disclosed by his friend and were largely investigated. In the meantime, the StB managed to concoct an extremely complex political process. The number one man in this process was named chancellor of the Piarist campus of the Gymnasium in Litomyšl town, Master František Ambrož Stříteský. Between October 9th and 11th 1950 twenty-five people (9 students among them) were handed extensive sentences in prison. Mr. Jiří Kopřiva was accused of treason and sentenced to two years in prison. He served his entire prison term in Zámrsk Youth correctional center.