Ing. Jiří Berounský

“However, that was very absurd because they used the bad cop and good cop method on me. When I got there, they were very formal. And, of course, I dodged all the personnel questionnaires. That I was sentenced to probation only and that I compensated for it, and so on. So it was kind of an interrogation about why didn't I say it all at once, and he was very much a proper setsec (State Security officer). ‘Sit down here, write us your true resume.’ So I wrote everything, and he threatened me. And that was the situation. When he threatened me, he started saying, ‘And do you know how you could make up for it, Mr Engineer?’ So, of course, it was clear to me how I could make up for it. How he meant it. And I acted stupid saying I didn’t know. So that's how we chatted the whole time. ‘And you really can't think of anything?’ - ‘Well, I can't think of anything. I should be rightfully punished. I didn't state everything, so punish me.’ - ‘But it's a pity for you, comrade engineer. How about you cooperate with us in some way?’ And it was clear to me that it is something I will not do. But I was very afraid because I was still just a little boy. The cops interrogated me again. I again– What was so psychological, I was behind a barred door again. Because the door through which you entered had bars on the other side, and after you entered it, the door closed. So again behind the barred door, which was terrible. So I said, ‘Well, that's a big decision. I could come to tell you tomorrow.’ Even though it was clear to me that there was no way I was going to do that. The next day I came–I consulted with my father before–and there was a nice policeman. When I told him no - ‘But, Mr Engineer, we know you have a good relationship with the socialist establishment, and we need people like you.’ So, in a way, it was harder for me because it was easy to tell the enemy straight away, but [it was harder to tell] the one who pretended to be my friend, so it was more difficult.”

“We stole the file of the SSM [it was the file of the ČSM, i.e. the Czechoslovak Youth Union], where they were, of course– Rita Budínová, later Havel's co-worker, who went through a very stormy development from a completely pro-regime communist to a democratic politician. So we wanted to– we stole the ČSM file because the records there were very unfavourable for individual students. Then, for Masaryk's hundredth anniversary, we made some flyers and put them in telephone booths.”