"It was on the 23rd. We were taking the train home. Trains only went to the Těšnov station from where we had to find our way to Smíchov. The main train station was completely isolated. We had a suitcase full of things, my wife was pregnant and our younger daughter was with us. We walked from Těšnov all the way to Václavské náměstí. Suddenly, we could hear gunfire and saw a pile on fire under the Welceslas memorial. We went on all the way to Voršilská street where there was another shootout. We wanted to hide inside some house but everything was locked up. A car passed by with a red cross on it because taxis drove as ambulances. I waved at him, he stopped and said: 'But I can't take you on.' I told him: 'We have a train to catch from Smíchov to Pilsen, I am here with a child, my wife is pregnant.' He said he would risk it, then. He had us get in and we drove to Národní divadlo. There were Russian soldiers and we had to open the trunk. He saw there was only our suitcase there, opened it, closed it and said we could go on. We were very lucky to make it to Smíchov. There, we got on a train to Pilsen."
"My parents used to go with my uncle - my mum's brother - to get goods in Krkonoše, Červený Kostelec, Náchod and Hronov, I recall that. They used to weigh the goods. They selected it on their own, it was cheaper even if the travel cost something. Later in 1948, these factories were closed and it was impossible to get there. The wholesales here in Pilsen... Us as entrepreneurs were forbidden from shopping there. I still recall having one piece of tablecloth and six napkins around it exhibited in our shop window for two or three months, that was it. We had nothing inside the shop. This forced mum to give up on the business herself. Taxes had to be paid and there was no income to pay them from. So in 1948, they gave up on the business."
"In the post office, I faced no trouble at all. It is just that they asked me to join the party. There used to be the chiefs, the mail sorters and those responsible for post packages. I told them I wouldn't join the party. Then in 1968 I joined the People's Party. I came to my boss and told him I joined the party." - "Finally, you've grown wiser." I pulled out a blue card because this was the color of the People's Party. I told him I joined the People's Party. He gave me this look. There was another guy at his office, he was good and told the boss: 'But Franta, they are also part of the National Front.' So I could then take the leading post for which party membership was a precondition."
Ladislav Seidler was born on April 16, 1939 in Pilsen. During the war, his parents sent their children together with their grandma to live with relatives in the rural area in Olešná u Radnic. Ladislav still remembers the fear he experienced during a shelling while visiting Pilsen. In autumn 1945, he started attending the monastic school of Sisters of Notre Dame. The Communist régime abolished the school in 1948. Around the same time, his parents were forced to close their textile shop. The authorities made it intentionally impossible for them to purchase goods with producers or wholesalers. Ladislav‘s mother stayed at home while his father became a breadwinner for the whole family; he worked as a representative of funeral services. In 1953, the family had to leave the apartment which fell in the hands of one of the „Comrades“. The plan was to send the family to Úterý, North of Pilsen. However, the family owned a small house in Čechurov, Pilsen, where they were eventually allowed to stay. After finishing primary school, Ladislav was aiming to study at a secondary school of industrial engineering. The school director in the primary school told his father that the society did not need intellectuals coming from a family of business owners and Christians. Ladislav was recommended to seek employment as a coal miner, pitman or postman. Following major obstructions, Ladislav managed to get accepted for a two-year program for postmen outside of Pilsen. Having finished the program, he joined the post offices at Pilsen main train station. He did military service in Litoměřice with the radio unit. Having returned from the military, he started working at train post where he stayed for forty-four years before retiring. In 1968, he and his wife Anna joined the Czechoslovak People‘s Party, hoping for a political change. The occupation by the Warsaw Pact Troops and the ensuing developments have disappointed them; they decided to focus on their family life instead. Ladislav, having had a time-consuming profession, has spent all his remaining free time with his wife and two daughters. Ladislav Seidler died on October 22nd, 2021.
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!
