Miloslav Straka

* 1949

Svědci lokálních událostí z éry komunismu
21. 8. 1968 - Invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops
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    Returning to Czechoslovakia in August 1968

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    “We were going back by train, so we went via Kyiv, the train to Čierný pri Čope, we arrived there in the morning at about four o'clock or three o'clock in the morning at the station. And the first thing I remember, really as very distinctly, which I will not forget, yes ... there was writing on the wagons, on some wagon it was written: 'We will hang Bilak and Kolder by the balls.'”

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    Fellowship with Soviet students in August 1968

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    “Well, so they arranged such an exchange for you after graduation. We graduated at the end of May and we made an agreement with one school, a high school in Moscow, my friend, twenty students from us went, I'll show you some photos. We went to Russia, to Moscow, by train and back. Or they came here first, like in July, and we went there in August. We left on August 15, 1968 and returned on August 27. This means that when we were in Leningrad and there at nine o'clock in the morning we found out, not from the Russians, nor from the professors, who knew it, they did not want to scare us, we were eighteen, that we were occupied by the Russians. And there they were, we were in front of the Hermitage, and there was a group, a bus, they were Lithuanians, and now they started telling us that, right. So some wanted to go home. They did not let us go. We even voted if we should stay there or if we would go earlier. In the end, we were... to stay there. It was dangerous back here, we only had news from Russia. They misinformed us that we were being shot at, that the Germans were here, that they attacked us, and all such lies.”

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    Žďár nad Sázavou, 21.12.2021

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We left on August 15, 1968 and returned on August 27

Miloslav Straka (en)
Miloslav Straka (en)
photo: archiv pamětníka
photo: archiv pamětníka
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Miloslav Straka was born on December 3, 1949 in Havlíčkův Brod, but lived almost all his life in Žďár nad Sázavou. He graduated from the Faculty of Education and worked as a chemistry and science teacher throughout his professional life. In the summer of 1968, he and his classmates completed an exchange stay with Soviet students. They first arrived in Czechoslovakia in July 1968, they followed them in August. At the time of the beginning of the Soviet occupation, Miloslav and his classmates were in St. Petersburg, where they also learned about the events in Czechoslovakia. In 2021, he lived in Žďár nad Sázavou.

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Dlouholetý pedagog, ředitel školy a radní Žďáru nad Sázavou odjel v roce 1968 od Moskvy. Psal se srpen a mladý muž vůbec netušil co se děje v Československu. Když se vrátil, viděl tanky i vojáky a se svým ruským kamarádem se třicet let neviděl.

  • date:
    14.06.2022
  • medium type:
    Internet
  • medium name:
    www.pribehynasichsousedu.cz