Antonín Loucký

“Although Dad was a supporter of the agrarian party, Dr. František Soukup used to be visiting us many times a year. He was one of the men of 28th October, a lawyer, and he was one of the co-authors of the first Czechoslovak Constitution. His name is quoted in the first place on the Declaration of Independence of 28th October. (Soukup was a social democrat – ed.’s note). He was coming to us, he was a great speaker, and sometimes he would give talks in the U Čížků pub after lunch. There were several pubs in Jarpice at that time. The pub U Čížků was a social democratic pub, and the agrarians were meeting in the U Dandů pub. There was rivalry among the guests, just like it is today, because people either supported one group or the other. Besides that, several of Dad’s schoolmates were high-ranking officers. One of them was the commander of the Prague Castle. He was a great favourite of President Beneš. Apart from that, we were also friends with the head manager of the archbishop’s estates. Someone from their family would be coming to visit us every week or fortnight. The tutor of the Lobkowicz family from Roudnice was also one of our family’s friends. Our family doctor, not the main one, but one of them, was Dr. Antonín Vrabec, who served as a family doctor for the counts of the Thun family at the chateaux in Děčín and Peruc. He was Masaryk’s contemporary and an expert on Austria-Hungarian politics, because he had gained this knowledge from the Thun counts. Since our family was in touch with the tutor in the Lobkowicz family, I became interested in history, and especially in heraldry and genealogy. I still know all noble families, including royal families, and their history. Another factor which contributed to our family’s interest in history and in politics as part of the modern history, was the fact that my Mom’s sister married the nephew of Vlastimil Kybal from Černochov. They mostly kept in touch only through letter-writing, because the country needed diplomats - historians after the war, unlike in the communist era, when there were mostly spies appointed to diplomatic posts, and in contrast to the present situation, when most diplomats are economists or lawyers.”