Ing., Arch. Boleslav Písařík

“And 1948 came. I was a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and I have to say that many things that already worked well during the First Republic, for example cooperatives, dairy farming, or livestock farming… For instance, my uncle had also a couple of cows and was in the cooperative because he supplied it with potatoes, and it worked really well. It was better than if he sold potatoes somewhere in a marketplace or better than if the farmers worked individually. Or for instance, youth recreations to former Yugoslavia worked well. So, a lot of things that the so-called Communist Party did, worked well. I would say that many things went well. But because I could travel, I had a comparison, and I saw that for example in the then German Democratic Republic, no matter how it was, they did not dare to nationalise someone who sold glasses or watches or mended shoes. However, it was overdone in our country – because of stupidity, unnecessarily and to the detriment.”

“My father Vlastimil was involved [in resistance movement against the Nazis]. But it is only a speculation because he never told me anything so that it would not hurt me in case I was pursued. And that is why I must tell you that as a student at the real grammar school, I was summoned to Kounic´s halls of resistance and I was beaten there. The thing is, they investigated me by having me stand against a wall and they pushed me from behind and broke my nose."