Karel Říha

"At the time, when I was already in operation, they were reducing the numbers, because there were officials in the party in the factory and reducing the number of communists from among the officials. Really. I am not joking. And the system was such that they made a list of those officials - and I'm not talking about it now, I checked it out - and one, two, three, four or five. One, two, three, four… so every fifth obtained a letter informing on stopping the membership. And there were such three-member committees, where you went and got interrogated about your whereabouts in 1968, what you were doing and such. Well, so I was also the fifth who they cancelled the membership. And I went there to the commission and they said, 'So, comrade Říha, what did you do in the year 1968?' And I replied: 'Are you serious? You know me from the economic and the operation department, so you know what happened, don't you?' And the chairman was named Čabula and I told him: ‘Jirka, and you don't ask me. I did not stand at the gatehouse up on the van directing the demonstration against…’ As all the people from the factory… There was the main gatehouse, there it all came together and he led the demonstration there."