Jiří Muzikant

* 1930

  • “The commanders, majors and lieutenant colonels, were sitting there, and they had a bit of a bet there, and they stole a major's coat and demoted him in the square. And the fools went to the bakery at five o'clock in the morning for well-baked rolls and got caught there. So the boy had a trial in the fourth grade. Well, we arranged everything so that he could at least finish his studies. Well, he got it, my whole class had to go to court and there they found out that he was suspended for eight months, that he got probation for eight months, for two years.”

  • “Dad was still the director here at Jungmann Orchards, so he couldn't go fishing with him, and I happened to be at home, so I went with him. Well, the first thing was, he arrived in the Buick that Voskovec had sent him here, and I scratched it a little - and he said: 'Hey young man, don't hit it, it's not a Czech product.' And then we went to Žižkas. Now I'm going to be a little blunt, but I have to say it. He greeted and said: 'Mrs. Žižková, do you have any trout?' They were betting who catches more and people were buying them there." The young Muzikant joined me today, and we caught fuck all.”

  • Full recordings
  • 1

    Vysoké Mýto, 28.11.2019

    (audio)
    duration: 01:08:31
    media recorded in project The Stories of Our Neigbours
Full recordings are available only for logged users.

Students walked to Palach’s funeral

Witness in 2019
Witness in 2019
photo: Regionální muzeum ve Vysokém Mýtě

Jiří Muzikant was born on March 23, 1930 in Vysoké Mýto to Norbert and Klementina Muzikant. He grew up in a family of teachers. Father was friends with Jan Werich. As an eight-year-old, he joined the Lejsek scout troop, but he took the scout vow only after the war. He sang in a choir all his life, and he stopped singing in 2007. He graduated from grammar school and then from Higher School of Water Engineering (VOŠV) in Vysoké Mýto. He completed his education at the Technical University in Brno. For 47 years, he taught at the VOŠV. In January 1969, his students marched on foot to Jan Palach’s funeral, Jiří Muzikant supported them. He was also involved in the early 1970s on behalf of students tried because of an incident with members of the Soviet occupation forces. He later taught externally even in retirement. He lived in Vysoké Mýto at the time of recording the interview in 2019.