"I wrote two letters about the Frýdlant through road, one to Jakeš, the other to Biľak. There was no reply from Biľak, but Jakeš intervened. Within a week it became a huge issue, they thought there was a revolution happening in Frýdlant. That was the year eighty-seven, I think. What is the revolution here about... And that was really a big trouble in Frýdlant, because the communist corps of generals got involved. And he was scared of it, because the country was getting close to a revolution, those were the times of the starting revolution, everything was getting a little bit loose, so it created big problems."
"Then I went to Letná, there were a lot of people there, but even at Wenceslas Square it was crowded, full of people. The atmosphere was wonderful, you can't compare it with the way it is today, it was something wonderful. When I came here from there, communism was still in power, everyone was afraid. I was the first one to raise the flag in Frýdlant. I borrowed a flag from a neighbor, and I raised it up. Then I was filmed on TV, they immediately made me the president of the Woodworking Plants, I didn't even want to do that, the first congress was at Julda Fulda's in Prague, they filmed me there, I went down to the city in the morning and people said, 'you were on TV', it was nice. The atmosphere was beautiful. The people were fantastic to each other, polite."
"He once told me that's what saved him in the uranium mines. At that time they were looking for welders and he knew how to do it, so they got him out of the uranium mines. He always told me, 'That saved my life.' He told me that they used to mine in ice water up to their waist. After the revolution, he told me about it, he said, 'You wouldn't believe how terrible the conditions were there.' People were so desperate that one of them ran towards the fence, he knew he was going to be shot, so they shot him, and he stayed there for a week. The sun was shining. He said, 'You can't imagine the smell of a decomposing body, the eyes pecked out by birds, the horror. And that’s what Czechs were doing to other Czechs. They weren’t Germans, but Czechs and Slovaks.'"
Jiří Kleker was born on August 18, 1957 in Frýdlant. His maternal grandparents came to Frýdlant after 1945 from Čáslav, his paternal grandparents from Jičín. His father Jiří Kleker spent five years as a political prisoner in the Jáchymov labor camp. Being the son of a political prisoner, the contemporary witness was only allowed to be apprenticed as a car mechanic. During the invasion of the Soviet troops in August 1968, his father had the invaders sign a petition against their entry. The contemporary witness was a member of Junák until it was banned again. He spent his mandatory military service in Martin, Slovakia, and Mikulov, where most of the men were convicts. In 1979 he got married and had a son, three years later a daughter. In 1987 he was the main initiator of the protest against the construction of a through road in the town of Frýdlant. He spent the revolutionary days of November 1989 mostly in Prague, participating in gatherings and he also was the first to raise the Czechoslovak flag in Frýdlant. He was elected the president of the union of the local woodworking factories. In 2022 Jiří Kleker lived in Frýdlant.
Jiří Kleker's family. Starting from the left is his father, his mother's brother, his wife and their mother, his mother's sister, and his mother holdin his cousin. Jiří Kleker is in front of them, Milovice 1968
Jiří Kleker's family. Starting from the left is his father, his mother's brother, his wife and their mother, his mother's sister, and his mother holdin his cousin. Jiří Kleker is in front of them, Milovice 1968
The graduation of Jiří Kleker's son Jiří. From the left: his wife, Jiří Kleker himself, his daughter, and below them are his son Jiří and his sister, 2005.
The graduation of Jiří Kleker's son Jiří. From the left: his wife, Jiří Kleker himself, his daughter, and below them are his son Jiří and his sister, 2005.
Hrdinové 20. století odcházejí. Nesmíme zapomenout. Dokumentujeme a vyprávíme jejich příběhy. Záleží vám na odkazu minulých generací, na občanských postojích, demokracii a vzdělávání? Pomozte nám!
