Rudolf Kvíz

* 1939

  • “The poem ‘In Movement’ is a creed. Not only Hollan’s one but a creed of life. I won’t recite it, I will just say it: ‘The poet can be excused by nothing, not even his death. Yet out of his dangerous presence stays always something more several of his signs. And in them indeed not perfection, even if it were paradise, but truthfulness, even if it were hell…’”

  • “I was mostly attracted by their greater defiance of the Soviet diktat. For instance I had never seen a red star there which in here hung on every lamp pole. There was no way for them. Once I was buying something at the market and the Polish man asked me whether I had Czech money. I said yes and he asked me: ‘Why do you have that star on the two-crown coin?!’ He blamed me for it. I always admired them for being brave, and for being such a romantic nation ever since the 19th century uprisings. They were even a bit better off than us travel-wise. They honored their nobility and their great exiles, such as their great poet Milosz. Once there I bought his books in Polish. I admired all of this on them. That they were less crooked and braver than we were."

  • “I got house searched in Prague as well as in Štolmíř where my mother was still living back then. The secret tasks were called ANALÝZA and DIAGRAM – in the dossier, they always wrote it all in caps. From a snitch at my workplace during the summer holidays they got to know when my wife would leave with the kids to her parents’ and that each Friday I was travelling from Prague to Štolmíř to spend the weekend with my mother. They used the opportunity it and undertook a house search. They didn’t really succeed because – as written in the report from the search – they found out there were no window curtains. They were being washed or something, but simply were not there. But since they needed to do it under cover of darkness, they couldn’t pull the curtains and anyone could see what was going on there. They had to sneak around the bookshelves and drawers with a lamp and whatever they found there, they had to bring in the middle of the apartment where there was the bathroom, the only place where they could turn on the light. This caused them trouble and they considered the operation unsuccessful.”

  • “Viola theater was an oasis during the normalization. And so was the radio and its literary and drama production. So even during the worst of times there were decent people working in the radio. Of course, during the anniversaries they had to present some author who was favored by the communist regime but still, there were decent people. At the same time, there was a great director of Restaurants and Canteens enterprise which was running Viola. His name was Majer and he was very approachable. Obviously, as chief of the enterprise he had to be a member of the party. But he was supporting what Justl was doing in Viola. And naturally even if Viola’s production had to make compromise with the regime, it was still a very decent place. It was even a place where people would meet, who were fired from various cultural agencies, editing boards etc., to drink their morning coffee and chat. I also took part in it.”

  • Celé nahrávky
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    Praha, 22.06.2016

    (audio)
    délka: 02:02:31
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Memory of nations (in co-production with Czech television)
  • 2

    Hroznová ul., Praha , 27.08.2016

    (audio)
    délka: 01:44:19
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Memory of nations (in co-production with Czech television)
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It was a lonely struggle against the Bolsheviks

around 1969 - Rudolf Kvíz
around 1969 - Rudolf Kvíz

Rudolf Kvíz was born on 8 November 1939 into a farmer‘s family in Český Brod. He encountered the German occupation as well as German and later Russian soldiers finding accommodation in the outhouse of his family farm. The farm was confiscated by the communists in 1950s though they let the family stay and work there. After finishing elementary school and because of his family background, Rudolf had trouble getting admitted to any other school. He trained to become a smelter in Kladno, followed by a mining college and the Research Institute of Iron Metallurgy. During the political thawing of mid-1960s he was admitted to study journalism at a university. Back then he already read poetry in the Poetic Wine Bar Viola where he had his own shows dedicated e.g. to Vladimír Holan. After graduation he spent a long time searching for a job in a magazine, eventually succeeding in Filatelie where he worked for eleven years. He developed an interest in the Polish people and their revolting spirit; he visited Poland several times; and brought back Solidarity‘s materials. As a result of his good relations with catholic families close to the dissent he was of interest to the secret police which followed, wiretapped and interrogated him. He gained much acclaim for his reciting skills. He reads poetry at individual shows, on the Czech Radio, and is a common jury member at reciting contests. He lives with his wife in Štolmíř.