Jana Pospíšilová

"Julek was amazing. He was a big spirit imprisoned in a miserable body. He was amazing, well-read, educated, incredibly emphatic. I admired him. He was able to have discussions both with educated theologians, with older people of various professions and nature, with us teenagers as well as with children. I don't recall him ever being rude. When he was in pain, we would know by him staying out of the discussion. I even recall him apologize to us for not being sociable, saying he was tormented by certain issues. We told him there was nothing to be sorry for and that we'd leave. But he wanted us to stay."

"I fully realized the fact that the regime considered religious people as its enemies while in the third year of high school. We went to visit Josef Hrdlička in Liptáň where he served as a priest back then. Somehow, it turned out that we were identified by the police in the village and they knew we were going to visit him. I was then summoned for an interrogation. I was seventeen and came in with my mum. Even before that, the secret policeman visited me in my school where they left me with him alone. He was asking such stupid questions: asking me in June what I did on 20 March, which I couldn't ever remember. Anyway, it wasn't pleasant and I felt bad. He asked me whether I wanted to finish my studies. That was a really unpleasant experience. At that point, I realized I was considered an enemy of the state. I found that very unfair. What kind of an enemy - I only wanted to do good as a Christian and to love everyone. And yet, I was marked as the enemy."