Stanislav Diviš

“I don't remember what I told them, because these are situations where you are stressed and you know that a good cop and a bad cop take turns and they keep asking you stupid questions. I mostly answered nonsense. There was no point of telling them anything. I know the file exists, and Pepa Nos said he laughed when he was reading it. I didn't even go to Pardubice to look into the file, because I was afraid to find out that maybe some close friends of mine were telling on me. I live my life with purpose, I don't need revenge, nor do I need to live in anger at someone who did such things. I try to do the things I want, I've never told on anyone.”

“In Kutná Hora, before I enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts, my life resembled an American movie. I kept changing jobs at the time. I went to Germany to unload grain, I picked strawberries, I also worked on archaeological excavations, then in a brewery, in picture framing and finally I ended up as an artist in the district cultural centre. At that time, I organized events in the local club, such as poetry sessions, artwork and jazz music. It went well and people attended regularly. I also invited singers to the club, such as Vladimír Merta or Josef Nos. Fortunately, we recorded all the concerts in the archive. However, one peer reported to the Secret police (StB) that we were insulting the president. At that time, children's things were rising in price, and Josef Nos sang something about buying children's shoes. Such a banality. But it set off the Secret police investigation. Someone with a higher batch was transferred from Prague to a small town as punishment for causing some problems, and he wanted to get back to Prague. He took the concert as an exemplary example. They were watching me from that moment. A guy with a bicycle stood in front of our house all day, and when the postman arrived, he checked my mail and then continued watching me. To be honest, I was pretty nervous about it at the beginning. I had small children then. I was worried that they would send in a social worker. I felt really bad for two or three days. But then I looked out the window and I thought to myself, 'they can kiss my ass.' ”