“Now I see that Lukášek [an StB agent] over there. I thought I’d grab him by the throat or kick him. [I told him] that it was despicable, that I’d never seen such filth in my life. And that even though he knows everything about me and only comes to see me when I’m on duty—so that neither my parents nor my husband, nor anyone else, would be there—he knows when I work the night shift, so he certainly knows that my dad died three days ago. And yet he has the nerve to come and interrogate me about some nonsense my relatives are doing abroad. Let him do whatever he wants; let him write whatever he wants about me wherever he wants—I don’t care. And I refuse to say another word to him. And there’s the door!”
“[He said], ‘Be reasonable…’ [I said], ‘Doctor, I have two options. I love my profession, but I’ve always loved my family and put my family and children first. Either I join the Communist Party and become the head of pediatrics, and my husband will file for divorce tomorrow, or I’ll keep my family and just be an ordinary doctor. He said, ‘Oh, then I understand.’”
“During the war, he worked as a courier, and when they arrested Fučík—whom he knew well— the Communists came for Dad in the middle of the night and took him, along with my sister—who was eleven years older—and Mom, to Mom’s sister’s place in Chlístov near the quarry—there were only six cottages there—so that Dad wouldn’t be arrested. Dad said that Fučík was a terrible womanizer. For one thing, they arrested him when he went to see some married woman at night—they knew he was seeing her. And they also knew he would talk.”
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Dr. Věra Pokorná was born on March 27, 1944, in Prague to Josef and Josefa Vecker, eleven years after her sister Iva. Her mother, Josefa (née Rejzková), was from Neveklov. Her father, like her grandfather, was a staunch communist and a member of the resistance. After the war, he worked closely with Josef Smrkovský, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. In 1949, anticipating the political trials, the Vecker family moved to Český Dub, and then to Turnov a few years later. Věra Pokorná met her future husband, Jiří Pokorný—whose family had been persecuted by the communist regime—at high school. After graduating in 1962, she went on to study medicine in Prague. They were married in 1966, and two years later their son David was born. She graduated in 1969 and began working at the Turnov hospital. She soon began specializing in pediatrics, a field she remained in for the rest of her life. At the turn of the 1970s and 1980s, a modern, well-equipped ward for pathologically ill newborns was established in Turnov, and Věra Pokorná became its chief physician. In 1974, her daughter Martina was born. Thanks to the help of her mother, who took care of the children, she continued working. At that time, she was among the world’s leading experts in her field. She refused to join the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. State Security (StB) began taking an interest in her in the early 1980s, when her relatives who had emigrated came to visit. She learned of the start of the Velvet Revolution on the night of November 17, 1989, from her injured son, who had been participating in a demonstration. Turnov soon joined in and supported the students. After a change in local representatives, the witness took her seat for her first term. She pushed for an extension to the hospital and the conversion of coal-fired heating plants to natural gas. She then devoted herself full-time to pediatrics until 2011, when she retired after 56 years. At the time of filming in August 2025, she was still running the Counseling Center for High-Risk Infants twice a week. Passed away 29 August 2026.
