"With a few friends, about two or three, and a colleague from the upper class, we said, 'That's not enough, we have to take Fučík's badge into our own hands.' So smart, well-educated people - one then ended up in prison and died in exile in emigration in Munich - we worked our way up to creating an examination commission for Fučík's badge, and we knew that those who decided to get it – they knew [what it was]. Because it was happening. We had a trained system of questions and answers. 'So, comrade, what fascinated you most about reading Proti všem (Against All)? What fascinated you the most? ' 'You know, comrades, I was most interested in how the governor on Žižkov Hill told his comrades: Did you send to the vineyard, as I said? And they answered him: We did. They are just about to set off! Well, it was very difficult to keep oneself from laughing. However, it was good fun when it took an hour, with district officials and comrades from the party's district committee sitting there in tie shirts, nodding that the culture is flourishing. It was amazing. It was amazing and it was very risky."
"There was a competition for the best one in the Youth Creativity Competition. There were different rounds and the highest round was in Ženské Domovy (a place) in Smíchov, I vividly remember that. There was a war in Korea then, so [the choirmaster wondered] what we were going to sing that people would like. So, [he said] we're going to rehearse a Korean song. He's with us - and it was made! - he practiced a Korean song and I even remember the words there were." - "What words were there?" - "Cankepk can čulki čulki. Pierin san uk and ronkan kupi kupi… And so on. The words were meaningless, we knew it. It was unbelievable that a group of, let´s say, forty people - students - [didn't show anything]! It was just a game that was quite exciting. But the members of the establishment were terribly stupid: they thought it was real." - "So. [the choirmaster] came up with a Korean song?" - "[Yes,] he did. I'm able to [sing] that melody." (Sample melody) - "And with words?"- (sample of singing with words)" Well, bullshit, absolute bullshit! But it was difficult, because we were absolutely not allowed to show that we knew it was bullshit. And they sat there and applauded. And we won it! The main round in youth creativity." - "It was creativity!" - "It was! Then we got Fučík's badges for that."
Eugen Příbaň was born on January 11, 1935 in Prague. During the war, he witnessed the bombing of Prague or the fighting between the Vlasovci and the German army. In 1946, he lost his father, which dramatically worsened the family‘s financial situation. He attended the secondary grammar school with Jan Kučera, whose parents hid Milada Horáková‘s husband Bohuslav Horák for some time. Prior to graduation, he became involved in union, covertly satirical initiatives, such as the choir‘s participation in the Youth Creativity Competition with a fictional Korean song or a staged checking of knowledge from Fučík‘s badge. At university, he married his classmate Jana Hola, the daughter of painter Miloslav Holý. After graduating from medical university, he worked in hospital facilities in Krásná Lípa, Rumburk, Varnsdorf, as well as in the Hospital pod Petřínem, where he treated students beaten during the so-called Strahov events, and at the polyclinic in Prague 6. In 1965 he spent half a year in practice at the Vienna Hospital Rudolfspital. In August 1968 he emigrated briefly with his family to Vienna. As a non-partisan, his possible promotion in the normalized Czechoslovakia was stopped, and so he became an improver. He privatized his department at the polyclinic after the revolution and worked there until his retirement.
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!
