“At that time, I was working full-time and studying at the same time. So, frankly speaking, I had no room at all to take interest in other things. That said, time would pass and I saw that, and sadly, I remember waking up in the morning on 21 August 1968 and the radio saying we were occupied. Russian army, or actually allies’ armies had invaded us. On our way to work on the bus, we admitted they unfortunately were there indeed because we saw tanks on the roads. I believe many people see what happened in ’68 as unfair; at that time, it was like hostile occupation. They still refer to it that way today. Then they called it ‘brotherly help’. No matter what anyone called it, what happened was inexcusable and we saw it as injustice to our state, our society, our people at the time. In fact, though, as a student I didn’t have much time to…”
“... they said, the things are what they are. We concluded we should transform from our base in factories and elementary organisations across the country to municipal organisations. So, we went for the municipal sector. After that, things would get sorted out in municipalities, more or less, because people who worked in factories in the town but did not live there usually went back to their home towns. New party cells were formed there. So, you could say, the transformation took place and it [the party] was built anew. At that time, there were still quite a few people able and willing to admit the party had done some good things. And indeed, citizens still vote for them in the municipal and regional elections because they know them and know what they have achieved. So, these people still made it [to the political bodies] somehow. Fact is, the people who were still functioning this way in companies and plants gradually reached an age where they retired from those positions…”
“Well, I saw it differently. In ’62, I was working at Magneton in a department that prepared forecasts of society’s development. Or, rather, of the enterprise at the time. We made all sorts of documents to secure capital to fund the development of motor vehicles. Unfortunately, that meant an awful lot of paperwork because there were no computers back then. And though we did a lot of paperwork and then sent it all to Prague, the net result was zero. So, more or less, I had to admit that the thaw and the developments towards something new were good and could have had an actual impact.”
Jaroslav Adamík was born in the Vsetín Hospital on 3 June 1941. His father Jaroslav Adamík came from Zborovice near Kroměříž and was a locksmith by vocation. His mother Anna Adamíková, née Kortyšová, came from Velké Karlovice and was a factory worker. Both parents were employed at the Vsetín arms company where they met. Jaroslav Adamík grew up with parents and three siblings in Velké Karlovice in a rental house owned by his mother’s parents. The family moved to Kroměříž in 1945 and he has lived there ever since. He completed his compulsory primary school education in Kroměříž and, since he could not go on to study at a technical high school, he took a turner training at a vocational school in Kroměříž. Having graduated in 1958, he joined Pal Magneton Kroměříž as a turner and remained an employee until 1987. He worked his way up the ranks to become the head of a department, head of a section, and head of the technical division. As an employee, he was allowed to study part-time at the High Technical School of Mechanical Engineering in Kroměříž. He completed his school-leaving exam in 1960. In 1962, he was admitted to the Brno Technical University to study economics and management. He got married and his son Vlastimil was born in the same year. Jaroslav joined the communist party in 1964 to get a better position at work in order to pass his proposals. The Adamíks moved to their own apartment in 1968. He considered the invasion of 1968 unfair but chose to focus on things he could influence, his job, and his family instead. He was a Vice-chair and then the Chair of the Svornost (Concordia) housing cooperative in Kroměříž from 1972 to 1975. In 1981, he was elected a deputy for the Czech part of the Chamber of the Nations of the Federal Assembly of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. He held the office until the end of the term in 1986. He was a deputy of the Municipal National Committee in Kroměříž from 1986. He joined TOS Hulín in 1987 and went on to work in managerial positions for the next 15 years until retirement in 2002. He perceived the revolution in 1989 as unexpected. He felt it important not to change his stance under the new circumstances, and did not exit the party even after 1989. He was a member of the Kroměříž municipal assembly from 1990 to 2022. He was a member of the Zlín Regional Assembly from 2000 to 2008 and worked in the finance and zoning panels. Since 2008, he has been active in KSČM on the local and municipal level. He is a member of the Ludvík Svoboda Association presidium.
Hrdinové 20. století odcházejí. Nesmíme zapomenout. Dokumentujeme a vyprávíme jejich příběhy. Záleží vám na odkazu minulých generací, na občanských postojích, demokracii a vzdělávání? Pomozte nám!
