"It was amazing and the people at the meetings were literally cheering on us. It was enthusiastic that we could finally choose our own path, so the dominance of the Civic Forum was amazing. Related to this is the memory of Václav Havel's first free election as president. When we went to the Castle, there were a bar of people around us who encouraged us. There were acquaintances who called out to let us get it right. The election was an amazing experience, not only at the Castle, but also with what was around. "
„His role at the time was that, I think, he was not even able to conduct a qualified parliamentary session. He was completely in the tow of his secretary, who was a StB officer, as we found out, who not only planned his travels, but also his actions and, in fact, his behavior. He somehow refused to get rid of him, we pushed him. He spent minutes in the plenary proving how necessary and important that man was for him. It was a kind of disappointment and sobering experience, because many of us were still living in the spirit of the 68th or reflecting on the experience of the 68th. ”
These were very naive and unreasonable ideas, because I got to Lipno, which my uncle once built as a construction manager, so I thought, 'I'll see how it works, if you can't walk across the border.' As the night was setting in, I was approaching the border, there were wires at the time, and suddenly a German shepherd stopped me. My luck was that he was tired of the long patrol, so he didn't hurt me. The soldiers who came immediately arrested me.
"To the explosion at Brčekol, they were given the task of finding out what was there. They took their armored fists off the train, and finally father decided, 'Let's fire it!' They were hit and they were in luck, because they did not manage to escape far as the explosion was massive. Pieces of the wagon flew over them, the axles ending in the field. There was a crater sixty meters long and twenty meters wide. Fortunately, they suffered only minor injuries as it flew through them. Lights came on in the wide area as the windows and dims broke out. It was a major impact. After the event, the public could get there for a short time, so the father was photographed standing by the destroyed tanks and wagons. It is true that the guerrilla commanders assumed that they would not survive. They were quite surprised when they came to report the outcome of the action."
Vladimír Mikan was born on August 17, 1948 in Chrudim and his life was fundamentally influenced by his father Antonín Mikan, an anti-Nazi resistance fighter and holder of the War Cross in 1939. Since childhood, he has been involved in sports, especially orienteering and hiking. The year 1968, when he attempted to persuade Soviet soldiers to return home in Liptovský Hrádok, was a major turning point for him. During the hop brigade in Lipno, he tried to cross the state border, was caught, investigated and rescued by a presidential amnesty in 1969. After completing the studies at technological highschool (chemistry), he continued with studies at the University of Chemical Technology in Pardubice, where he studied organic chemistry. From 1976 he worked in the district biochemistry department at the district hospital in Jičín. From 1983 to 1986, he ran a laboratory at a clinic in Tripolis, Libya, where he experienced American bombing. In 1989, he co-founded the Civic Forum in Jičín, and was primarily responsible for organizing and coordinating protests in the district. He was co-opted as a member of the Czech National Council. In 1990, he was elected to the Federal Assembly for OF and was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. In 2021 he lived in Jičín.
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