Jiří Breu

"That was, if I am not mistaken, in 2009, on 28 September, Czech Statehood Day. At that time, Benedict XVI was the Pope, who had unfortunately passed away. Well, I was offered the position along with other colleagues in the deacon ministry. I wondered if I would like to be present at the service in Stará Boleslav. I had no idea what was coming. So we came to Stará Boleslav to the place where the service was to take place. We went over the "script". I mean, we were told what was going to be where. Well, the next morning at six o'clock I had to be in Stará Boleslav. The VIP sign, of course. There we were given a special tag where it was specified in paint what area we could and couldn't enter, because there were tough security measures. Well, Benedict XVI arrived, he greeted us. And I already knew that I would be right next to him at the altar. So we arrived, and what fascinated me was that Benedict came out of his papamobile and went to greet Václav Klaus. And he wished him happy birthday that day. And then we held a service..."

"We had a garden a short distance from where we lived where we kept poultry, and one morning we went to feed them, and when we were coming back home, a tank was driving down the road towards us. So I can still see to this day the barrel of that tank and how my mother just pulled us aside so we wouldn't run into them. So you remember experiences like that, too. And later, when we were in our senior years in the seventies, we visited the barracks where the grammar school is today. For example, where bikes used to be stored, there was the so-called Hall of Traditions where the eternal flame was burning. None of the students today know that anymore, only we who were there a long time ago remember that."