Mgr. Václav Hurt

“We went from Albertov to Vyšehrad where it was supposed to finish. The we walked back. I actually walked all the way. I had to return home, because in Hrabová we had agreed on taking down the scaffolding on Saturday so that we would be able to finish the construction of the roof. I left Národní Street immediately before the attack. I was in the first rows and we were sitting on the ground for about half an hour or an hour. Policemen were standing against us. I was a bit ashamed for that. They allowed me to enter Mikulandská Street. I think that they didn’t let in anybody else. Then they closed the street and they stormed at the people. I went home by the last train and when I arrived home I turned on the Radio Free Europe and I found out what had happened.”

“I remember the interrogation well. The offer of collaboration was somewhere in the background. But it was probably not the main issue. They rather tried to scare me. The greatest number of interrogations that I experienced was in my first parish in Merklín in western Bohemia. As for my schoolmates, it varied. One of them was a friend of his. I could not understand this. Then I even refused an invitation to some class reunion because he was there and because I did not trust him He thought that if he told them something about me, he would trick them and he would then be able to have some positive influence on them. Well, that was very naïve. Most of my schoolmates told me about it if they had been contacted. Some of them were invited to a pub, some of them just passed through. Like my good friend Pavel Ruml, whom they had not contacted at all during his studies. But they attempted to put him to prison while he was doing his military service and they nearly succeeded. Some counter-intelligence officer was after him and he accused him and Pavel was tried. So there were efforts like that.”