Ing. Antonín Kyncl

* 1928

  • “We agreed on two conditions. First, all of the workers would take off their hats and keep them that way. Second, that nobody would shout out anything the whole time, that it would be a silent protest. Nobody joined us on the way. On the contrary, I was noticing people hiding behind curtains inside their homes and waving at us secretly. People were already afraid back then. Various obstacles were put in the streets to prevent us from getting to the castle. I remember that when I was climbing over a truck one old SNB officer, instead of forcing us to get down, told us: ‘Lads, just don't get hurt.’ ”

  • “First they had to wear yellow stars, then they were deported into concentration camps. I was there back then. What ended up happening was that one day Germans came with a truck. They threw all the Jews in there. I remember one of our neighbours who was very ill and they threw her in there like a piece of garbage. We never saw them again.”

  • “I was there with two other man. They both were in the Party from the beginning, one of them even led a militia unit. So, how did it all go down. I obviously went to the radio every day to learn what was happening. The militia guy kept calling home and saying: ‘Kids, don't go anywhere! Don't you even think about going to any protests!’ I returned home and the general strike happened.”

  • “Back then pretty much our entire industry was oriented towards the Soviet Union and the Comecon. This was reflected in the structure and quality of the products we supplied them with. The only thing we could compete with in the West was price. Our machines were often defective, there was no proper maintenance. When it all went down in the East nobody wanted to buy it. In the spring of 1990 around three hundred machines were just standing there in Zlín that nobody wanted.”

  • Full recordings
  • 1

    Praha, 10.06.2017

    (audio)
    duration: 02:52:23
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
  • 2

    Praha, 26.09.2019

    (audio)
    duration: 01:23:30
    media recorded in project The Stories of Our Neigbours
  • 3

    Praha, 30.01.2020

    (audio)
    duration: 01:23:30
    media recorded in project The Stories of Our Neigbours
Full recordings are available only for logged users.

Do not intentionally harm anyone and make people happy

Antonín Kyncl in 1946
Antonín Kyncl in 1946
photo: archiv pamětníka

Antonín Kyncl was born on the 2nd of July 1928 in the town of Svratka, in the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands. His father was a clockmaker, his mother ran a shop. He attended the elementary and higher elementary schools in his hometown, later continuing his education at a business academy in Chrudim from which he graduated with honours in 1946. He was accepted to the Commercial College (a predecessor of today’s University of Economics). He attended lectures held by economists such as Karl Engliš or Josef Macek. He was a member of the Sokol movement and the Czechoslovakian National Socialist party. Antonín’s plans to become a diplomat were unfortunately made impossible by the Communist coup d’état in February 1948. Being opposed to the regime, he was expelled from the student dormitories but thanks to his excellent grades he still managed to graduate. After that he worked at Ústředí pro hospodaření se zemědělskými výrobky (“Centrale for the Management of Agricultural Products”) which was later transformed into the ministry of agriculture. In 1951 he started his mandatory military service with the Fourth Armoured Division in Tábor. Following his military service he married Danuše Šantrůčková and continued working at the ministry of food industry, witnessing the 1956 events in Hungary during this time. Since he openly supported the rebels and Imre Nagy’s reformation movement he was forced to quit his job at the ministry and was employed in a biscuit factory in Prague-Hrdlořezy. Only during the 1960s was he able to get a planning position at the headquarters of Továrny strojírenské techniky (“Engineering Technology Plants”) where he worked his way up to being one of the top experts on exporting machine tools abroad. Thanks to his expertise he was able to travel abroad both to the countries of the Eastern Bloc and western countries for business purposes despite not being a member of the Party. During the 1989 Velvet Revolution he co-founded the local branch of the Civic Forum in his workplace and shortly afterwards he was elected by the Civic Forum representatives as the first non-communist director of the company. He held this position until his retirement in 2000. During the 1990s he helped adapt Czech mechanical engineering to the new market economy conditions and integrate it into structures surrounding European Union authorities. Antonín Kyncl is a widower and has lived in Prague-Krč since 1959. He has a daughter and two grandchildren. He enjoys gardening, following social and political events, history, and reading.