'Was Mrs. Dymáková an ordinary tenant? ' - 'She was ordinary. But before that, the cops were forced.' - 'And when they moved the cops into your house, did they pay you rent? ' - 'They definitely didn't pay the rent.' - 'What was it like living with SNB members?' - 'Living together didn't turn out rosy, I got a few slaps for it because I greased their handles. And then one member had such a nice motorcycle, Zundapp, he garaged it downstairs under the house. One good neighbor advised me: 'Put sugar in his tank.' I did it and got slapped from grandpa for it too. He said it was over the line because the guy had to take the bike apart, clean it all up. I was a boy unaware of things. I got good advice, so I followed it. I greased their handles with red vaseline, it was washable.'
"Well, how did they take it? Dad took it the worst, he started drinking a little, it affected him the most, he was completely opposed to the regime, he didn't like it, and he paid for it. At that time around the 1950s, I don't know exactly which year it was, my grandfather was saying: 'Pepík, so that they don't say we are against the regime, go to the May Day celebrations too.' At that time, people walked from Zásada to Železný Brod. And at that time in Brod, some member of Czechoslovak Socialist Youth Union was offering Rudé právo (newspaper) to my father, he said to him: 'Thank you, young man, we have enough toilet paper at home.' Well, one word let to another and dear father returned from Litoměřice, he got six months. When he was coming back, a neighbor met him and asked: 'Where are you coming from, Pepík?' 'You'll be surprised, but from May Day.' So simply, that's how it turned out. It's funny today, it wasn't funny back then. Mom was left alone, you know how it was. It was a desecration of Rudé právo."
"While I was still in Technosklo, I received a message from the District Military Administration in Semily: 'If you are interested in motorized flying, come.' I came, they sent me for the second time to the Institute of Aviation Health, where I passed that I was healthy. I got my instructor who taught me the theory of flying, navigation, weather, all those things. I got a permit for the airport in Liberec - Růžodol. I came there as well, they showed me everything and that I would be able to fly after I had completed the training with the instructor. I was at least in a good mood, but when I arrived in Liberec, Captain Novák waved a piece of paper with a big red NO. He says: 'I'm sorry, but I can't let you into the air.' I say: 'Why?' 'It came from the village.' So, due to the intervention of one of the local fat cats from the village, I lost that as well. So, I worked at Technosklo until the start of the military service, I joined the military service, I enlisted in Mladá."
"Until 1948, it was as I tell. Here and there with some minor troubles, after the war, times began to change. Then came the fateful year 1948, when, as per the decision of the action committee of the National Front, both operations were stopped, the house was to be confiscated. The national administrator had already arrived, accompanied by the chairman of the national committee to take over the house with all the belongings and furniture. Whereupon grandma Marie declared, 'Here you will find me hanging the next morning.' The administrator was taken aback and asked if it was possible. After which he says: 'Well, you know, grandma built the house, so I wouldn't be surprised.' I don't know if it was for that reason or why the administrator resigned and we were allowed to stay. However, it was no longer what it was before, they sent us to three rooms. Grandfather and grandmother moved upstairs, to a small room with a closet. Gradually, they began to place tenants there, the first to come there were members of the SNB (The National Security Corps), who had a station there for a while, they occupied two guests’ rooms. Then their commander moved in.”
Jindřich Marek was born on August 15, 1941 in Zásada in Jablonec region. His family owned a prosperous hotel with a restaurant and a butcher shop, but after February 1948 the communist regime closed all their businesses. They didn‘t lose the house where the hotel was, only thanks to the grandmother, who told the national administrator that she would hang herself if it was taken from them. In the first half of the 1950s, the father of the witness, Josef Marek, went to prison for half a year, because he defamed the communist daily Rudé právo at a demonstration in Železný Brod on May Day. After secondary grammar school, Jindřich Marek did not get into the aviation school or to the Liberec University of Mechanical and Textile Engineering (VŠST), the communists from the village did not recommend him to study. In 1960, he enlisted in the military service for two years, initially serving as a scout in a tank regiment and then as a medical instructor in an aid station. After his release into civilian life, he was accepted to the Liberec University of Mechanical and Textile Engineering (VŠST). However, his brother died tragically after his first year in the university. Jindřich Marek interrupted his studies and for the next 39 years worked at the Železnobrodské sklo Zásada factory mainly as a silversmith. He got married in 1964, and he and his wife Libuše raised three sons. Paradoxically, he married into a family of which one branch was communist. After 1968, party purges took place in Železnobrodské sklo Zásada, the victim of which was an economist. During normalization, Jindřich Marek represented the workers in the trade union. After 1989, he noticed that a number of communists were changing their coats, but it bothered him that the communist director of the factory had to leave, he considered him a fair person and a smart expert. In 2023, he lived in Zásada.
Jindřich Marek (bottom center) in a wedding photo from 1964. To his right are his mother Jaroslava and father Josef, above the bride is Jaroslava's sister
Jindřich Marek (bottom center) in a wedding photo from 1964. To his right are his mother Jaroslava and father Josef, above the bride is Jaroslava's sister
A photo from the wedding of Jindřich Marek at the town hall in Jablonec nad Nisou, July 11, 1961. The mother of the witness Jaroslava Marková is the first one from the bottom left, next to her is the father Josef Marek
A photo from the wedding of Jindřich Marek at the town hall in Jablonec nad Nisou, July 11, 1961. The mother of the witness Jaroslava Marková is the first one from the bottom left, next to her is the father Josef Marek
Libuše - the bride of Jindřich Marek on July 11, 1964 with her father Bohuslav Doubravský. In the background is the district seat of the Communist Party of the Czech Republic, a party that significantly influenced the fate of the Marek family
Libuše - the bride of Jindřich Marek on July 11, 1964 with her father Bohuslav Doubravský. In the background is the district seat of the Communist Party of the Czech Republic, a party that significantly influenced the fate of the Marek family
Fritz and Hermína Mayer, relatives of the Marks from Zurich, Switzerland. During the period of political relaxation in the middle of 1960s, Jindřich and Libuše Marek visited them
Fritz and Hermína Mayer, relatives of the Marks from Zurich, Switzerland. During the period of political relaxation in the middle of 1960s, Jindřich and Libuše Marek visited them
Bohuslav Doubravský, the father-in-law of Jindřich Marek, during a visit to Switzerland with his brother-in-law Fritz Mayer at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s
Bohuslav Doubravský, the father-in-law of Jindřich Marek, during a visit to Switzerland with his brother-in-law Fritz Mayer at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s
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!
