RNDr. Josef Kubát

* 1942

  • "And I was afraid, so I called the secretary, I guess it was Kubínek, because we were asked what the situation was at the school, and I told him that I decided that the school voluntarily, who wants to go voluntarily, so that we are going to support the university students, but under one condition. That they will put me in touch with the chief of police and that the police will guarantee me that they will not be waiting for us anywhere, so that there is no clash like the one that happened at the National Avenue. That is what I was afraid of. Because you know, if you were there, something would happen and mom and dad would suddenly be like, 'Oh wait, they were at school!' Moreover, I was responsible for them. I was responsible for security at that high school. They understood that. And I also said that it would be a quiet demonstration, that we wouldn't shout anything anywhere and the like."

  • "I remember like it was today that I turned on the radio, I turned on the TV, the information was terribly fragmented. Now it was said, that they would not attack them when they came against them with batons and each one had a cobblestone in his hand. And so on. This is how we were informed. Of course, there was nothing true about it. That was Friday. On Saturday afternoon, our graduates called me asking if I knew what happened in Prague. I said that I know a little bit. What has been aired so far, which has really been close to nothing. In addition, our graduate and our graduate told me that they would be in Pardubice on Sunday and that they would like to meet me. So I met with them on Sunday morning, the 19th. Therefore, they informed me how it was, what it was, and so on. And that they will come to see the grammar school on the twentieth."

  • "So I said about ten to fifteen sentences there. I introduced myself and said that some probably already know that we went at half past twelve to support the university students in their position, that I take the entire event as my personal responsibility. That this was how I challenged the students, who wanted to go voluntarily; and that was how I challenged the lecturers who also wanted to go voluntarily and that I will carry the can, as they say. That in principle I do not agree with what happened, and that I agree with the demands of the university students, and that we cannot tell lies and that we will be retaliated against and so on and so forth. And, that it was a peaceful demonstration, that nothing happened anywhere and that now we are back again and that we will continue teaching from tomorrow. And strangely enough, I'm not saying it was spontaneous, but quite a lot of people applauded me like that."

  • Full recordings
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    Pardubice, 16.05.2019

    (audio)
    duration: 01:26:50
    media recorded in project The Stories of Our Neigbours
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I followed common sense

Graduation photo
Graduation photo
photo: archiv pamětníka

Josef Kubát was born on December 28, 1942 in Přestavlky in the Chrudim region to a peasant family. After graduating at the age of 11, he was not recommended to study at university due to his parents’ peasant origins. After several appeals, he was finally accepted to the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University in Prague. After finishing his studies, he first taught at a school in Vysoké Mýto, since 1966 he taught mathematics at the gymnasium in Pardubice in Dašická Street until 2017. In the years 1986–2005 he was the director of this gymnasium. He wrote several mathematics textbooks, participated in mathematical Olympiads, and was the chairperson of the Union of Czech Mathematicians and Physicists. In the days of the Velvet Revolution, on November 21, 1989, as the director of the gymnasium, he organized a protest march of gymnasium students to protest against the intervention at the National Avenue. At that time, it was the first similar manifestation in Pardubice. He has been a municipal politician since 1994. At the time of filming the interview (2019), the witness lived in Pardubice.