Jan Bakeš

"Suddenly, I noticed from the window, it was some kind of summer camp for children or some kind of facility from the factories, suddenly I noticed that there were some guys in camouflage running around trying to be invisible and inconspicuous, which they couldn't do for their paunches. So we were surprised because a moment later, someone kicked the door open, and some uniformed personnel came in. And with the idea that they would take us away, that we would go on a truck, which we refused, that we definitely wouldn't. So we'd take the buses. They got a bus, I don't know how many of us there were, how many people could fit on the bus, I don't know, about thirty or forty. So we went in two buses, they weren't full, they weren't bursting, that's for sure. But I know that one bus stayed in Litoměřice and we went all the way to Česká Lípa. I sat next to Hana Marvanová who gave me some information about the conspiracy. How to proceed, for example, during interrogation, better to keep quiet, not to say anything, not to play games, not to try to outsmart them, they are trained for that, we are not, aren't we."

"I was left to stew in the service station, waiting there for two hours before anyone noticed me. I know they were dealing with a lost kid. And when I timidly volunteered to see if anyone would notice me, I was rudely told to wait. Well, by then, it was clear to me, it was already dark, nine ten o'clock, that I would have a hard time getting home that day. Then someone finally noticed me and asked where I was and where I was going, and so on. So I said where I was, it was clear that when I was caught at the Germans, that I wasn't anywhere else. And that I wanted to go to Old Town Square, that I had a date with a lady there, and that was it. I repeated it a couple of times. They didn't push, and they said, 'Did you know there was going to be a demonstration?' And I said, 'Really, this is the first time I've heard that.' Which they didn't believe, of course. I survived, they let me go. They were nice to me, they let me go at about eleven o'clock."

"That was the critical moment, you could say, when I started. When I listened to the Free Europe broadcasts, they repeated the names and addresses of the signatories, but especially of the Charter 77 spokespeople who were spokespeople that year. And I couldn't think of anything better than, I said to myself, I don't know anybody here. I felt the need to get in touch with somebody, and I didn't know who to go to. Well, I jotted down a few names, and I thought, I'm going to go out into the world, right."