Ing. Petr Vrána

* 1956

  • „The odd thing was, if you wanted to parachute in Svazarm [Svaz pro spolupráci s armádou; Union for Cooperation with the Army], you needed to go through six months of training and such. When boys joined [the paratroop unit], they had three months of land training. And we started on the 1st of September and the parachuting season ended on the 1st of October. So, during ten days, they taught us to jump, to perform the proper parachute landing fall, to pull the cords, and on day 11, they threw us out of the plane so that the jump quota was met. Because when the jump quota was met, that's what the army professionals told me, the officers had enormous benefits.“

  • “As far as I remember, the first direct contact with revolution was on Friday the twenty-fourth, when former students from Prague universities came to our high school and brought a video casette with the well-known scenes. As I was in charge of the physics classroom where there was a TV and a recorder, my colleague, Marie Rosenfeldová, brought them to me, so that we could have a look. We invited a group of eight or nine trustworthy colleagues whom we trusted. We watched it and talked about with the students who told us about the atmosphere in Prague, about what's going on thee. It was a first-hand report, not that they had been beaten but they were present, they participated in the demonstration. But, the main point was, they told us that for the Sunday the 26th, a large demonstration is planned on Letná. And they told us that they were returning to Prague, and that we go along!”

  • „Je pravdou, co říkají vrstevníci (možná někteří o rok starší, kteří šedesátý osmý rok zažili ve věku patnácti, šestnácti let, já měl tehdy dvanáct roků a moc jsem z toho nebyl moudrý), že atmosféra v šedesátém osmém, toho pražského jara, toho období, než přišla okupace, byla možná daleko víc spontánnější, nadšenější. Ale i v tom 90. roku, když probíhala kampaň k volbám, tak nebylo problém sehnat lidi, aby pomohli s vylepováním, aby se angažovali a pomáhali přesvědčovat druhé, aby šli k volbám. To bylo to podstatné, aby nezůstali doma. 'Pojďte k volbám, volte kohokoliv, kdo se tam hlásí, ale pojďte, jsou to první svobodné volby.' Je pravda, že jsme byli zvyklí, že jsme povinně museli. Najednou, když je to dobrovolné, tak si každý řekne, že se na to vykašle. Však oni to za mě udělají. Ale šlo o to, aby k volbám šli a ten hlas dali komukoliv jinému než KSČ.“

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    Uherské Hradiště, 21.07.2019

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The Communist regime disliked people who did their own thinking and made their own decisions

Petr Vrána, vice-mayor of Uherský Brod
Petr Vrána, vice-mayor of Uherský Brod
photo: ED natáčení PB

Petr Vrána was born on the 3rd of June of 1956 in Gottwaldov (today’s Zlín). He grew up in Uherský Brod. His mother’s shop with her handcrafted goods was confiscated in the 1950’s. Since his childhood, he supported the family budget by working various odd jobs. In 1968, he joined the Junák youth organisation, the Czech version of Boy Scouts. After having graduated from the high school in Uherský Brod, he was admitted to study mathematics and physics at the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the J. E. Purkyně University (today Masaryk University) in Brno. He spent his compulsory army service with the 22nd Paratroop Brigade in Prostějov. After having graduated from the university, he returned to the Uherský Brod high school as a teacher. During the Velvet Revolution, he became a member of the school’s strike organisation committee and later, he joined the Civic Forum. From March 1990, he was a summoned member of the city committee, later on, he sat on the city council. In 1990, he got elected to the city council for the Civic Forum. Between 1992 and 2008, he was the vice-head of the high school. In 2008, he was elected vice-mayor and he has been holding this seat until today.