Miroslav Vencl

“The thaw did come, but CPC members still clung to the leading positions, staying in control. People’s Militias worked really hard. They did all sorts of drills, all the time. The year 1968 was weird. I think we even didn’t go to work on one or two days – there just was no way. Then, Russians appeared and would come in repeatedly. Our folks went there with them, trying to convince them it was nonsense – just one big mistake, all that fuss of theirs; that all that counter-revolution stuff was nonsense. The armies had their way, though, they settled in, but I don’t think there were any changes at Zbrojovka. The Militias kept working, and we made fun of that: they’d play Kupředu levá [a 1950s communist song] over the plant intercom. That was like the sound of the alarm for them – they’d gather in the [bomb] shelter, discuss what to do, and come back again. There were so many of them.”

“The front line had passed by. The period that followed I remember somewhat. I remember us going outdoors in gangs. The Bohunice hospital was still in existence, and full of injured people. There was a POW camp in the area where the prison [detention facility] is now. I have no idea whether it was Nazis or anyone else who was interned there. We’d go for walks there, and mum would always throw a pack of bread in there stealthily; I remember that from the wartime. Being the silly boys we were, we would go above Kohn’s brickworks to an anti-aircraft battery, dig up gunpowder from cloth bags, and carry it around with us. Luckily, none of us got hurt. I also remember there was a scrapyard in the field where the Bohunice prison is now. Each of us boys had ‘their own’ tank there, and we’d throw lumps of clay at each other. That was my childhood. Shops sold green boxes with ‘Supplied by UNRRA’ written on them. It was food aid, which I only got to know later. UNRRA supplied help to war-stricken countries. Those packages were a bit like ‘a pig in a poke’ – you never knew what was inside. There were various treats inside such as chocolate, biscuits, and soy butter, and sometimes even chewing gum. That was a real treat, and I have to admit that friends and I would share chewing gum: ‘Let me chew a bit!’ Those were years of chaos, but being kids aged six, we never grasped that.”