Doc. Ing. Josef Mevald , CSc.
* 1935
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“So, I went to look and got terrified. There was such a strange comrade in the larger auditorium down there. 'That is hardly possible. This is how the comrades will have power in their hands back again.´ I bristled and contacted a few people and my colleague whom I was with after the divorce before 1989, in order to do something about it. There was also a meeting at our department, where a physicist wanted to take it over. He said he would twist the comrades' throats. So we thought it wouldn't be the same either. Fortunately, I do not know if it was fortunate for me or for the whole thing, my colleague who was there with me at the department and whom I politically 'spoiled' suggested that I could head the Civic Forum. I took it pretty embarrassedly. We were then three speakers and negotiated with the Rector, Professor Stříž.”
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“In that first check I was reconciled to having to leave. There was the head of the department, some other party members as a supervision, so that it was just one worker who happened to be a modeler and a meritorious sport champion in model sport. He knew me as a modeler. For lack of political work ... an expert, a pedagogist indeed ... they poked the modeler. He was dozing there. And it was all noted down that I had to leave because of the lack of political work. A good expert, well qualified pedagogically too, but politically totally unsatisfactory and unpromising. So, they poked him what he would say. He woke up. 'Well, comrade Mevald, I suggest you join the party, and I'll make you a guarantor. Think about it, don't hurry.‘ So, they crossed it all out and gave me one year of grace.”
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“In 1945, as a 10-year-old boy, I experienced the arrival of the Red Army. They were tired, quirky in their appearance, came to our home at night to sleep with us. There they reached out and slept there. They had bakeries that ran twenty-four hours a day. They supplied the crew far and wide; they went for bread there. They were hardworking. But there were also inconveniences. They decided to fish. But how to hunt? They threw a grenade. Then they collected it. Dad warned them not to do that.”
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Full recordings
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Liberec, 23.09.2019
(audio)
duration: 02:04:37
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Will the comrades be in power again?
Josef Mevald was born on 8 May 1935 in Hradec Králové. His father was a forest geometrist in the forest of Přím. Until 1947 his parents lived in the village of Dolní Přím. He studied the first year of grammar school in Hradec Králové, then he studied at the grammar school in Liberec, where his father was transferred after the war. He graduated in 1953. Then he joined the newly established College of Mechanical Engineering in Liberec. After graduating he received a placement in Tesla Liberec, where he first worked as an ordinery constructor and later became head of the mechanization and automation department. In 1962 he returned to the university in Liberec. He became a lecturer and taught flexibility and strength. He also solved research and development tasks for industrial companies. After 1968 he had great problems staying in school. He eventually stayed at the faculty, but could not finish his candidature thesis. In 1989 he became a leader of the Civic Forum at the University. After 1989, he contributed to the transformation of the school into the Technical University of Liberec. He influenced majorly the development of the Faculty of Mechatronics, Computer Science and Interdisciplinary Studies. He lives in Liberec today.
