Josef Šamánek

* 1956

  • „Byly to tři dny, kdy člověk zažil něco, co se mu vetklo navždy do paměti a do mysli jako: ‚co kdyby to mělo pokračovat dál.‘ Takže člověk zažil největší strach. Protože my jsme byli pořád vychováváni jako takoví ti naivní, mírumilovní pitomečci, kterých se nic takového nemůže dotknout. A hle, najednou, Československá lidová armáda se do něčeho takového pustila. Od války nebo založení lidové armády.“ - „Připomnělo vám to rok 1968? Mohl jste se vcítit do ruských vojáků, kteří přijeli?“ - „Řekl bych že ne. Ruští vojáci – aspoň si to myslím – byli přesvědčeni, že nás přijeli osvobozovat od kontrarevolucionářů. Kdežto my jsme jeli na Poláky s tím, že jsme mentálně, psychicky byli proto, co se tam dělo. A ostatní vojáci si říkali, že je to otrava. Někteří říkali, proč bychom tam měli jet, a když už tam jedeme, tak já jim to osolím. Takhle někteří uvažovali. Takže rozdíl bych viděl v tom uvědomění. Nebo zblbnutí. My jsme nebyli tak zblbnutí. Ti ruští vojáčci mysleli jinak, ten režim tam pracoval jinak.“

  • „Ono totiž bylo řečeno, že do Polska se pojede, až rozkáže Moskva. My se tam seřadíme, před tou hranicí a až se nakáže, tak se pojede. A zároveň jsme neměli jet honem rychle rovnou do měst. Měli jsme přijet někam na venkov, obstoupit nějaké město a zastrašit Poláky. Případně, kdyby se proti nám postavila Polská lidová armáda, tak jít proti ní. Jenomže i polští obyvatelé… A já jsem si představil, a to nevyplynulo jen z mých představ, ale i z řečí kluků, co kdyby se proti nám ti civilisté z nějakého města nebo vesnice postavili? Co teď? Jsou to muži, ženy, ani ne vojáci. Tak co uděláme? Projedeme to tam, nebo postříkáme, nebo tam hodíme granát, nebo někoho pro výstrahu na příkaz velitele vytáhneme z řady a zastřelíme, protože pomáhal protisocialistickým živlům? Takže jsem měl dilema, jak bych se k tomu postavil. Je tady rozkaz, je tady ideologický důvod, a zároveň je to proti vašemu přesvědčení. Zároveň jste ale voják. To jsou dilemata… tři věci proti třem věcem. A je to těžké, jak se k tomu postavit. Když odmítnete rozkaz, postaví vás před soud a zavřou vás.“

  • „Psychicky jsme na tom byl špatně, protože jsem měl pocit, že jedeme fakt do války. Jak to je možné, jak mě to mohlo potkat a jak se zachovám. Začínal jsem mít takový zvláštní pocit, že mi začíná být všechno jedno. Například normálně, když jedete v té koloně, tak před vámi jsou výfuky, ten smrad z transportérů. Jako velitel čety trčíte ve věži a všechno to lapáte a dýcháte, teď mi to bylo jedno. Dřív jsem si zacpával nos před autem. Různé věci. Prostě najednou člověk zlhostejní, mimo jiné proto, že má strach. Zlhostejní k některým svým vlastním útrapám. To základní je, aby se nestalo, že bude třeba někde zraněn, když jede do takového světa. A kam vlastně jede, a na jak dlouho, a co se bude dít. Ale věděli jsme, že jedeme na Pacov.“

  • "We didn't go far, and the first big accident happened. I don't know if it was in front or behind Hodonice, but there was a right turn in the forest stretch. They hurried us, we were supposed to be somewhere. We were supposed to be in Čáslav with wheeled vehicles, and tracked vehicles were to be in Pacov. In Pacov, planes were ready to move the tanks to Poland. Particularly the command was handed over. The Czech commanders were no longer in charge, but the Soviet commanders [were]. In the meantime, a lot of injuries occurred. The biggest tragedy happened when we were rushing to Pacov, where we were supposed to be at dawn. It was snowing and it was below zero. We were going too fast. The young men, the tank drivers, didn't make the turn. As they were turning, the tank skidded and got on a slope with a small pond below. The whole tank with the turret overturned into the pond. It started bubbling. It was a tragedy. The other tankers stopped, we stopped, jumped out, began to shift to get the tank out. But the regiment commander arrived in the GAZ car and said: ‘Leave it there, let's go’. On top of that, the exhaust went in, mud and water also went into the turret. So they asphyxiated there."

  • "We arrived in Čáslav and the local people knew nothing there. They were living in peace, going for walks and we [were] dirty, hungry, covered in mud and we were expecting to go to Poland. It was said that we were going to Náchod, or Horní Čermná, to the Krkonoše Mountains, Žacléř. So us and our commanders, we were arguing about it, looking at the maps, where we were supposed to go. We spent the first night there, we could take a shower, smartened ourselves up and ate normal food, finally. The next day we were mustered, and the loud regiment commander was no longer there. Or he was there, but he shrank visibly. Suddenly they were walking there, I don't know what ranks they had, but they had red stripes and they spoke Russian, and those people made decisions, they commanded."

  • "And suddenly in the afternoon [there was] a real alarm and muster. We had to go out with everything, even with the depository. That is, deposited vehicles that hadn´t been allowed to be touched. They were supposed to be the best, it was oiled, the best tanks, everything. It was called ‚D‘, and we had ‚O’, which meant operating vehicles. However, when the operating [vehicle] had a breakdown, everyone reached for the spare part in the depository. So the deposited ones were the worst. The deposited machinery did not work well. But everything was supposed to go out. Then we found out that the Karlovy Vary division, the Sušice division, the entire western sector was going to leave. And that we were leaving that night."

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I couldn’t imagine firing at a civilian

Josef Šamánek v roce 1980
Josef Šamánek v roce 1980
photo: pamětník

Josef Šamánek was born on March 23, 1956 in Brno as the firstborn son to the family of architect Josef Šamánek. In 1969, Josef’s father was expelled from the Brno University of Technology, where he worked as a teacher, for political reasons. Admission of Josef Jr. to a grammar school was put in doubt, too. The family considered emigrating, but when father found a job in the same line of work in Ostrava, the Šamáneks moved there in 1970. During his studies at a grammar school in Ostrava, Josef volunteered at excavations in Znojmo and prepared himself for archaeology studies. However, for political reasons, the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University twice rejected his admission. After “getting working class background” as a result of working for three-months at the Bruntál State Farm, he was admitted to the University of Agriculture in Brno. In August 1980, as a university graduate, he joined the armoured cavalry for one-year military service in Kdyně. In December, he was forced to participate in the Krkonoše [Giant Mountains] military exercise planned in order to be on alert in case the Solidarita movement in Poland got stronger. In the end, the invasion of Poland did not take place, military units were sent from the Polish border back to their home units. He lived in Brno in the 1980s and 1990s. He worked at the Research Institute for Fodder Crops and at the Czech State Insurance Company as a crop and harvest insurance clerk. During the revolutionary changes in 1989, he co-founded the Civic Forum at the Czech State Insurance Company in Brno. In the 1990s, he worked at the Czech Insurance Company as a member of the supervisory board and a human resource and sales manager at the regional level. He also worked at the Prague headquarters as a trainer. In 2005, 2009 and 2011, he served several weeks on assignments as a volunteer in the rear of the Israeli army. He has lived in Prague since 2004. He is a father of three children.