Václava Čoudková

"Back in '68, I recall there was a little bit of a political thaw. We could say a lot of things, even if not very loud. What followed was the period known as the Prague Spring. I recall we put Dubček's photo on our bulletin board, Svoboda's too, and Císař, though you likely don't know his name. He was the Minister of Education at that time and a reformist communist, just like Dubček. I even recall us putting up a photograph on the classroom bulletin of a Red Army soldier statue that stood in the Rokycany square for a long time, and we wrote 'Divíšek' under it [a name derived from the Czech verb 'divit se' - 'wonder']. The idea was, he was probably wondering how he got there. See, the Americans liberated Rokycany, yet a Red Army soldier statue was installed there for a long time. It's not there anymore; there is a beautiful fountain instead there these days."

"Let me read you what my mother, Mrs Vlasta Vodáková, once wrote about my grandfather, her dad. I'll read you just a little bit. 'On 7 May 1945, a tank quietly showed on the patch in front of our windows and amazed eyes. Our first idea was that the Germans had returned and were about to fire, but we found it was the first American reconnaissance tank, and then more came. People were coming in, too. My mother kept an eye on me, but she couldn't keep an eye on our father. For him, the war wasn't over yet. He listened to the Prague radio call for help. He joined a car with the barricaders to help Prague. A son of Šumava and a former Italian Legionnaire, a rifleman from Piave, he went to fight once more.' This tells you that I skipped an important part of my grandfather's life, namely being a Legionnaire in World War I, where he was in combat on the Piave in Italy."