"A tank drove into the square from the theatre. And a geroj [hero in Russian] was standing there, he was standing in the open hatch. Then he fired, first he made such an arc to the left, where an ATM is today, towards those houses. The smart ones, who knew, they lay down. And we weren't smart and we ran to the town hall. It was unbelievable, perhaps it is a war crime. Because he lowered it and shot at those lying. As stupid as we were, we were already in the town hall, so nothing happened to us. But those who knew it was better to lie down under fire, they lay down because lying people can´t be shot at. So he lowered it on them ... I remember him vividly. I would recognize him if I saw him today."
"Dad used to listen to Radio Free Europe and commented on it. My mother always said, 'Janička, you mustn't say what your daddy is listening to. Because otherwise they would arrest us and you would have to go to a young offenders institution.' And I never really said what daddy was listening to."
"And we went to sign it as first and second class pupils, we went to sign condolences books in the town hall cellar, [write] that we were really sorry about it. And we sent our sincere condolences to the Soviet people because their leader had died."
Jana Pikousová, née Matoulková, was born on August 23, 1945 in Hradec Králové. In the same year, her father moved to Liberec to take over the managerial position at the power plant in Andělská Hora. The rest of the family moved to Liberec to follow him about a year later. At the time of the deaths of J. V. Stalin and Klement Gottwald, she was in her second school year and she and her classmates had to sign condolences. During her school years, she also became a passionate reader and was interested in literature. She studied secondary medical school and then worked in a children psychiatric ward. In August 1968, she witnessed the arrival of Warsaw Pact troops in Liberec. Her ex-husband emigrated abroad. For the second time, she married photographer Jan Pikous.
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!
