Ivan Bačina

* 1964

  • "It was euphoric and I welcomed the fact that they stopped being violent. I'm glad how it turned out, even though it turned out badly. I can hear the gendarmes honking, I can see them, and I've got it in me. Nothing has changed there, I'm afraid. They just fucked up my whole life, the Bolsheviks. I'm glad when their function is over. But I still have those gendarmes in me."

  • "I was sitting at Sam's waiting for the guys, when he came up to me and introduced himself as the head of the Brontosaurus movement and said we could get together. I said, 'How do you want to get together? You're under the union and we're independent! What do you want to unite?! Pig and goat?' I threw him out, and I wasn't some spokesman for Havlíček's youth. 'Fuck you! What are you trying to do?' Some people wanted to be radical and some didn't. It was there."

  • "We used to wear our hair long, but to this day, even though I don't have it that long anymore, I still wear it hidden the way I used to - I throw it under my jacket. That's the way it's stayed. As soon as you had your hair out, you stood out immediately, anywhere. You could do what you wanted. At the train station, there were problems, with the Vosožáci and so on... You were a magnet. They must have had it drawn or photographed somewhere, it didn’t matter—if your hair reached this length, you were in trouble. God forbid if your [long hair] came down to here. Once you let it out, you couldn’t walk around the village or town with your ID without getting stopped. They’d be checking your papers the whole time."

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Mírovka, 30.04.2024

    (audio)
    délka: 01:59:31
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Příběhy regionu - Vysočina
  • 2

    Mírovka, 18.10.2024

    (audio)
    délka: 02:24:10
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Příběhy regionu - Vysočina
  • 3

    Mírovka, 23.10.2024

    (audio)
    délka: 01:26:46
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Příběhy regionu - Vysočina
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

I don’t see military officers as often anymore, but a cop on the street still gives me the chills.

Ivan Bačina, 80s
Ivan Bačina, 80s
zdroj: archive of a witness

Ivan Bacina was born on 14 March 1964 in Čáslav. His father was a career soldier with the rank of major and worked as the head of the airport administration in Čáslav. His mother Hana was a worker and a member of the street committee, both were members of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ). After finishing primary school in Čáslav, Ivan Bačina trained as a locksmith in ČKD Kutná Hora. From his youth he wore long hair, for which he was expelled from driving school. From 1983 to 1985 he performed basic military service in the Czechoslovak People‘s Army, starting in the NCO school in Prešov and then continuing in the unit in Janovice nad Úhlavou. At both places he experienced bullying, and for an incident in which he assaulted a non-commissioned officer he earned a sentence in military prison. From 1985 he increasingly attended concerts by unauthorised bands, often staying in Křepice na Moravě or Havlíčkův Brod. After a search and interrogation by State Security, he decided to move permanently to Havlíčkův Brod. He showed his opposition to the regime by signing declarations or petitions. He took part in demonstrations against the ruling communist regime, held a hunger strike for Pavel Wonka, or was involved in the activities of the independent initiative Havlíčkův Youth. He also became a member of the Movement for Civil Liberty. In 2021, the Ministry of Defence awarded him the Third Resistance Participant Award for fighting and resisting communism. At the time of filming in October 2024, Ivan Bačina lived in Mírovka near Havlíčkův Brod.