“I remember I was walking the second day of the holiday in Staré Splavy and even though I was seven years old and could not write that much yet, my first revolutionary action was that I wrote on the pavement with chalk: ‘Occupants, go home!' And my mum and dad were standing behind me, there was also my sister and other friends and said that I also had to write there who the occupants were. And I did not know that, and I remember that I was writing the names of all befriended countries around us, and I also wrote Romania and they started to discuss: ‘No, they are not from Romania! Just Germans, but not all Germans, just GDR.’ And we were during those first days basically analysing who came to occupy us besides the Soviet Red Army.”
“You cannot imagine it; I remember that it was horrible. Because we thought that we would never see each other again. I remember we were in Chropyně that day, her daughter was three years old, and you cannot say it to your parents, to anyone. To your friends. And I and my sister had and still have a really close and valuable relationship. And the fact that you would never see each other again was such a strong emotion that you are very moved. And for many years, until 1989 we thought that it would not be possible. Only Perestroika helped it a little that I could visit her, and I still was not aware of the fact that I could actually see her. But to lose anyone whom you love also over the phone or in a written form, I mean we had little pieces of paper by the phone, and on those written how many minutes and what to ask and it was always a big event when we call to America. My dad used to have a shot before it to manage it. He used to have the second one after it.”
“I vividly remember discussions called “How it happened in February.” Two militiamen came, and they were dressed in uniforms. One of them even had a machine gun and the other one had some files which contained pictures of Lenin and Gottwald and they sent them to our tables and the one with the gun even disassembled it and showed us that People´s Militias saved capitalism with those guns. Usually, the person who gave the speech was not that erudite. I do not want to belittle anyone but they really were blue-collar workers from factories and they were trying to tell us in a primitive way that People´s Militias were there to protect our wealth with their bodies in case imperialists came to factories because basically working-class nationalized everything so everything was ours, all the enterprises including buildings, historical buildings and castles and factories and power stations so that is what People´s Militias were there for. And that we as students should be thankful to them because they were enabling us the service and they were protecting peace in the factories.”
Rostislav Marek was born on 17 June 1961 in Kroměříž to a family affected by the Communist regime - his grandfather Rudolf Polách, a supporter of Masaryk used to be the head of a Catholic movement and gymnastics organization Orel (“Eagle”). His daughter, Rostislav´s mum Eva was not allowed to study because of her father. In 1968, when he was seven years old, Rostislav faced the reality of invasion and he wrote on the pavement with chalk: “Occupants, go home!” When his father left the Communist Party immediately after the August occupation, his son was also affected by it and he faced troubles with admission to Kroměříž Grammar School and later also with admission to Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno, however, he managed to finish his studies there and he graduated from it in 1983. His sister Dagmar emigrated to the West during that year, which was emotionally difficult for Rostislav, and it also meant another problem for his cadre profile. When he wanted to apply as an actor, reciter, and singer to Vít Nejedlý Army Art Ensemble instead of mandatory military service, the regime´s condition was that he would end all written and telephone communication with Dagmar. Rostislav Marek refused it, and he started his basic military service as a radio officer in Bechyně. He was active in the Civic Forum and in the strike committee during the Velvet Revolution in 1989. Throughout his acting career, he remained faithful to today‘s Zlín City Theatre. He also acted in several Czech films and series. In 2019, he and publicist Jakub Malovaný published a book called Samet v divadle (Velvet in Theatre) which gives information about the then Gottwaldov. He and his wife Jana raised their daughter Eva.
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!
