Petr Sobíšek

„It was my personal decision to do something. On the 20th of August [the witness means 19. 8. 1970], we were making so-called phenolic tanks at the gas plant, which were rolled up to the height by rolls. And I took talc and wrote on them: 'Remember the anniversary of the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the USSR.' In large letters that could be seen from afar. The next day we were working as if nothing had happened, and suddenly a security guard probably from Stalinák [Stalinov závody, now Chemické závody.] came and said: 'What does this mean?' And for us to erase it. I say: 'Why would it be erased? Tomorrow is the anniversary, nothing will be erased!' They pressured us because they didn't know who wrote it. Then they said, 'We'll come back in an hour, so get rid of it by then!' and drove off. When they returned, the half-metre letters were still there. 'So you didn't erase it?!' I say: 'No, we didn't.' They left again. But they probably found out what kind of company we are. Suddenly a colleague calls us and says: ‘You should go to the head fitter.’ So we pulled ourselves together and thought: ‘What do they want from us?’ In overalls, as we were, we went through the gatehouse and stood there… now I don’t know if StB. Just the police. 'Are you from Chemont Brno?' - 'Yes.' - 'Then you will come with us!' I was active and asked: 'And where? We are in overalls.' - 'You are going to Most for questioning.' - 'But I have a car in the parking lot.' - 'We don’t care about your car.'“

„I started my punishment and the music was with me again. When it was New Year's Eve 1971 to 72 [he means 1970 to 71], in Bory they wanted to organise entertainment for the prisoners in the cinema hall. Antonín Gondolan was there at that time. Tonda Gondolan played the bass guitar, collaborated with Štaidl... And we played New Year's Eve together with him. I played drums, he played bass, but I don't remember the other bandmates. Prisoners played for prisoners on New Year's Eve at Bory.“

„They hammered Santa Claus, the Christmas tree and November 7 into our heads here. But our national holiday? [meaning October 28] When I talk to a communist today, I ask: 'Do you know that you cancelled our public holiday? Take a pre-1989 calendar, it says work day. And you did that? On the day of the foundation of the state?' I have a picture of Masaryk hanging at home... But they would deny even the foundation of the state!“

“I heard even in the halls, that they´ve beaten up somebody there. For example they were throwing out of the window and they knew which one. There were fourteen people in the cell so you could hear that they were rushing in the hallway, opened a cell and dragged someone out beating him with a baton for throwing messages. That was quite loud. That was quite common. We communicated over the wall using the Morse code: ‚Who is new, who is not new.‘ The first days in custody everyone asks: ‚What have you got?‘ When I said: ‚I wrote the occupation anniversary.‘ ‚They will let you go.‘ All of those fourteen they were petty criminals, thieves or spongers, but there was Petr Týle from Česká Lípa, that his guns were unfit and he was getting ready for the anniversary. I was in contact with him there. I got a list of people, who I was with in Litoměřice and I would like to meet them. Usually they were just petty criminals.”

“When I got in trouble in Košice, they escorted me to Štúrov and back again to Košice. Then finally, so that they did not have to escort, they took my mattress and sent me to a single room; for example when someone was out for too long. So I went to play at the wedding and came two days later and the major, I can still see him as if it was yesterday: ‚Sobíšek, where have you been?‘ I say: ‚At the wedding, I played at a civil wedding. – And I did not know that there was a wedding for two or three days here. In Ústí the wedding only takes from Saturday until the next morning, and that´s it. ´He locked me up immediately. As I had this musical stuff I was punished for that during serving in the army.”

“And then it was getting released somehow, that we could play any music even rockandroll. Especially then, when I came back from the army, some English names, you know them from the LPs, they were the Greenhorns, the Rangers, but then during the presidency of Husák that had to be renamed. The same applied when we were playing, so we could not have just a list of English songs, for example from the Beatles. The band conductor also risked, when he wrote down Vejvoda, Kmoch, the committee went through the list and agreed. Surely it was getting freer in 1960s: 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1967. The peak of course was in 1968.”