I hated communists deeply, and tramping was my escape to freedom
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Vratislav Špaček was born on 2 December 1950 in Liberec. He lived with his family first in Stráž nad Nisou, but in the early 1960s he moved to Jablonné v Podještědí. There he graduated from the municipal school and then he was trained as a locksmith in Česká Lípa. Around the age of 16, however, he discovered the magic of tramping and fully fell for it. His love of nature, adventure, tramping and the United States deepened his resistance to the communist regime. He was accepted among the tramps in a settlement near Jedlová led by the theologian and later dissident František Fišer. Here they built a tramp settlement together called Ranch 7D, to which he regularly went and participated in all the common events. Thanks to his friendship with František Fišer, he was also among the former persecuted church dignitaries and the Jablonec Dominicans. Together with his friends he wanted to emigrate to Canada, but they eventually abandoned the plan. In the following years he faced regular surveillance and harassment by State Security (StB). All his life he lived in the spirit of the principles of tramping and his love for nature. After 1989 he went into business. At the time of the recording in 2023 he was living in Rynoltice. We were able to record his story thanks to support from the town of Jablonné v Podještědí.