Ján Paulíny

“We worked in assisting production and the rubber conveyor belts broke. The belts were 80 centimeters wide and sometimes even 50 meters long. When they broke, it was necessary to reconnect them. Of course, there the miners were called. The broken parts of the belts were trimmed away; such clips were installed on the belts, so that such metal pin could be put through and hold them together. There was a seam of about 120 – 130 centimeters high. The first two weeks we worked on our knees, on such felt pads, what was really painful. Then we had to learn how to work in forward bend. And just at that time, one of the belts tore and was needed to be fixed. One side of the belt was secured by a corbel, a hole in the ground and on the opposite side was done to make it lean firmly against each other. The second part of the belt was chained to a gripper machine. It was about 10 – 12 kilogram thing, such a hoist working on lever basis. One side was firmly fixed and we were pulling the other part. We were sitting, since it was impossible to work otherwise, our heads tilted and we were switching at that lever on the gripper. However, unluckily, when it was my turn, we exerted such power, that the wooden corbel broke and the belt retrogressed jolting the hoist so strongly that it passed right by my ear and just made a draft. There was also the section manager present and three of my friends. The one named Steiner told me, ‘Janek, you were born for the second time!’ If the 10 – 12-kilo gripper went just 5 centimeters closer – one wouldn’t be able to survive that.”

“After two years of my study they started to inspect and much more strictly evaluate the cadre materials. Even though I hadn’t done any negative actions, the postponing of the military service was cancelled and I had to enlist in the compulsory military service. I was assigned to gather in Northern Bohemia, to Mimoň and yet there after some time I found out, that all the men present, weren’t a part of the normal army, but the chosen ones, the ones considered as class enemies. It was very simple. We used to march for two weeks left turn, right turn, and then the state authorities realized they were missing workers mainly in the mining industry. Originally I was supposed to enlist in the so-called light PTP, what were the surface works, but after this selection and the regular medical checkup, I was transferred to heavy PTP, what included coal mines or blast furnaces.”