Jindřich Kaděra

* 1937

  • "I was supposed to go to Prague to defend the national championship. I've had the national champion eight times, by the way, just so you know. So one of those titles I wanted... I had to defend again. And I had to go to work, so I said to the management that I needed to go to Prague. 'So we'll put you on the night shift and after the shift you'll catch the train.' But they deliberately held me up somehow, so I didn't get out when I was supposed to, and I missed the only train. So I rushed to the airport, and luckily they took me. I flew to Prague, and by the time I made it to the terminal, it all worked out, and I could still continue the battle for the title. But I hadn’t slept for two days. So when I got there, I told the people, 'If they call me, just kick me.' I collapsed somewhere and slept. Those were some unpleasant situations I had.

  • "[The opponent] was this rusty, almost six-foot-tall guy. I was a hundred and twenty kilos, I was a heavyweight. And he was even bigger and even stronger. Well, he hugged me right away, saying we're going to fight. I started talking to him in Russian, he didn't speak Russian. He was like some exiled bear from the wilderness. And he had no idea what judo was or anything... Fighting. I didn't know. And he... I'll digress - I had to go with him to some cafeteria in that Russian hall. There's four pints of bottled beer that we have to have. Now, imagine he took it, the bottle, grabbed it with his fingernails and [the witness demonstrates the sound of opening the beer]... No opener. I'm thinking, jeez, he's going to kill me. He was bleeding. Oh, it was horrible. That's what happened. He didn't know what judo was, so when they gave the command 'fight', in Russian, he grabbed me by the hair and hit me so hard in the back of the head with his fist and forearm that I lost consciousness. Which wasn't enough. That's what they told me afterwards. He grabbed me by the hair and he started to loot me all over the wrestling floor, it was some kind of coarse fabric, and my whole face was completely covered. And they couldn't get him off me. The referee was yelling. He just kept going. So they had to jump at him. I was the winner because he was..." - "Disqualified?" - "Yes, he was disqualified. So I walked away in celebration."

  • "Today it is different. Back then, they didn't do the fine art route to win some tournaments. It was a little bit different, it was a gaggle of enthusiasts. People from different professions in the country did it, it wasn't just athletes. They were all amateurs and they made a living [in other ways]. It was full of actors, politicians, artists, professionals of different professions. When we were riding on trains somewhere for a long time, many many many hours, we became so friendly that the doctors - you may remember the name of our and my good friend, Rajko Dolecek. Does that name mean anything to you? [nodding] So he was also a judoka, he was my pupil. And as he told about his profession, and anybody else from other professions. I was also asked about what I was doing. So such a wonderful atmosphere, no backstabbing, everything perfect. And when I beat someone, I apologized. I always said, and I still say it to this day, what it gave me - me personally, and I feel that in everything - most of all what it gave me in my life, I learned to be careful: to lose. That is an art. Winning is easy. But to lose, to get angry and start over, to do it again next time... [to] win and not lose. That's true in life everywhere. Somebody loses and gets knocked down. No, we judo players keep going."

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Ostrava, 22.09.2022

    (audio)
    délka: 01:49:43
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

The greatest art is not winning, but learning to lose

Jindřich Kaděra around 1955
Jindřich Kaděra around 1955
zdroj: Archive of the witness

Jindřich Kaděra was born to Jan and Maria Kaděra on 6 September 1937 in a hospital in Zábřeh. His first memories relate to the unfortunate events of the Second World War and the liberation of Ostrava. Already in his youth he acquired a very positive attitude towards nature thanks to his activity in Junák. In 1952, he had to give up his scouting activities, both because he had to go to an apprenticeship in Opava and because of the growing repression of the scout movement by the communists. Jindřich trained as a universal turner at the Mining Apprenticeship of the State Labour Reserves No. 15 in Opava. There he learned about a newly emerging sport: judo. His first and only coach recognized a great talent in him and in 1954 Jindřich became the first junior champion of Czechoslovakia and right after that the national champion. After finishing his apprenticeship, he joined the Central Workshops in Ostrava-Privoz as a journeyman. In Ostrava, he founded a new judo team within the TJ Baník Ostrava, which he led until he entered compulsory military service. He enlisted in the Dukla Plzeň sports team. After his military service, he worked for a while in the Central Workshops, but for financial reasons he became a miner. First he worked in the Trojice Mine and later in the Paskov Mine. Despite the demanding work, he continued to represent Czechoslovakia in judo. His work in the mine was interrupted after twenty-six years by a spinal injury. After the Velvet Revolution, he helped found the Municipal Police in Ostrava and served as deputy director. In 2022, he and his wife lived in Ostrava.