“There was priest František Ferda. He was a nice man. Just imagine that the wardens brought him altar-bread and wine and he celebrated a mass there. The wardens who were taking us to the workplace. He had it arranged perfectly. He told me: ‘Pepa, I’m going to celebrate the mass.’ I don’t know when he did it; he was probably hidden somewhere. He was a very kind and nice man. Then there was Mr. Prodělal, he was some high-ranking official. There were also two members of the police, who were in the so-called Buchal’s team. They were fine guys, too.”
“Jan Holub from Štramberk called on me. I think that he was a student of theology. He asked me if I would like to work with him. I agreed. It was just this one meeting and then he never came to me again. Later I completely forgot about it, and when they came for me I tried to remember quickly why they actually came. Then I realized it was because of this. I was an outsider for them. They did not want to believe me, but eventually they had no other choice. I was thus sentenced because I knew something but I did not report it, and I did not inform upon them. It was a kind of a unique court trial. At that time, the usual sentences were ten years, fifteen years, life sentence, and so on. But I got nine months, and the other guy got two years. The leader (Jan Holub – auth.’s note) got sentenced to twenty years, though, but apart from that the sentences were incredibly low. We were surprised by that. I don’t know why it happened. They said that it was probably thanks to the divine providence.”
“We moved on August 21st in 1968. The Russians were riding in tanks here and we were moving. We were here the day before with my wife and we left from here at one o’clock at night. There was beautiful full moon and airplanes were flying all the time. And then it happened in the morning. I was thus riding a motorbike with a sidecar in between the tanks.”
Josef Sedoník was born on February 5, 1928 in Sýkorec nad Lubinou. He is one of the last living political prisoners who were sentenced in relation to the anti-communist resistance organization Modré Květy (Blue Blossoms). This organization linked people from the Christian community, members of the Orel Catholic sports organization, members of the People‘s Party, priests and students of theology. The group printed and disseminated pamphlets, planned to establish contacts with the Czech and foreign resistance movement and amassed weapons for a potential armed conflict. Josef Sedoník was not even among its active members; he only knew that the organization existed. Since he did not inform upon them, the Supreme Court in Prague sentenced him on January 30, 1952 to eighteen months of imprisonment, which he spent in the correctional labour camp in the Vítkovice Ironworks. He was not allowed to complete his studies at the Pedagogical Faculty at Palacký University in Olomouc. After his release he did his military service in the Auxiliary Technical Battalions and then he worked as a toolmaker in the state-owned company Tatra until his retirement. For many years he served as an organist and he led a church choir. He composed more than two hundred liturgical compositions, which were published after the fall of the communist regime. In 1990 he was fully rehabilitated and in 2000 Palacký University in Olomouc granted him the academic degree Master of Arts.
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!
