Jaroslav Zajíc

“Looking back trying to find anything positive about it, I would say that in spite of all the oppression, the terror, the sadness and the pain inflicted on the family, the injustice and the oppression kind of encouraged us to resist the regime. It encouraged us to rebel, to come together and to get in touch with people who were trying to help us. They have been telling us to resist and to protest by all means possible. And we did. So we didn´t have to play the part of the victims, who just suffer passively, and we could adopt a more offensive stance. Many people told us that it wold have been futile. But after twenty years we saw it in a different way. Through his sacrifice, Jan Palach lived on as a legend. And our Jenda was part of it. And twenty years later we saw the protests against the old regime being started by this legend which has been encouraging so many people to gather at the Wenceslas square in the event later known as the Palach week. We realised that even the legends have their ebbs and flows and that even after so many years they could become a power that would encourage the people and would raise their fighting spirit.”

“Then me and my parents went to Šumperk and we spoke to his classmates. We also spoke to the boy who accompanied him to Praha. And at the Railway High School dormitory they handed his stuff over to us. And I was surprised by the fact that quite many friends and schoolmates of his knew about it, that there was even a teacher who knew. I couldn´t understand why nobody didn´t call the parents and didn´t tell them: 'Jenda have talking about what he is planning to do. Would you please come so we could talk him out of it or do something to prevent it from happening?' I never understood that and I have not been able to accept it.”

“After we came to Praha, we reported at the police station. They forwarded us to the investigators who drove us to an interrogation of sorts. Then they took us to identify the body. I know that they were eager to make sure that the funeral wouldn´t be held in Praha as was my brother's wish expressed in his last will. They let us read the last letter and the protocol. They stressed out it would be futile to insist on having the funeral in Praha as the Ministry of the Interior wouldn't permit it anyway. They recommended that we should hold the funeral at home. And we accepted. Such was our distress that we couldn't muster enough strength and courage to strive for such a thing. As they told us that it has been decided already that such a thing would be banned and suppressed.”

“Twice a year people came to the cemetery to commemorate my brother´s death. First was the occasion of the anniversary of the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact led by the Soviet army on August 21st. The second one was on February 25th which was also the anniversary of the so-called Victorious February. On both the anniversaries people would come every year so they could visit the cemetery, bring flowers, lit candles or such a thing. As far as I remember, the state was ready to retaliate even on the first anniversary. Both the policemen and the secret police men had been patrolling the cemetery. Many people who had been arriving by train were just sent back to where they came from. They would even put them in a car a take them out of the city where they would leave them so they couldn´t get to the cemetery. So on these days the regime would harass everyone who wanted to visit the cemetery. They have been patrolling outside our house and they would come to pester us, to ask questions. They have been harassing both my father in the shop and my mother at home.”