Miloš Horanský

“But I remember it with great pain when Germans were executing Czech patriots. There were special notice posters with blood-red colours and black writing. Can you imagine how nasty it looks? We have some colour, or black letters on white, but if you have this red poster which is the only one in this colour on the poster board with those black letters and the German eagle sign, and it says - according to the martial law – the martial law was introduced after the assassination of Heydrich, and people were being shot by thousands – the following people were punished by the capital punishment. And this was followed by a list of people’s names. We, as children, walked to school and then we would freeze in horror by those black and red letters. Well, it is a terrible, painful feeling for sure. Then you go to school and you see the Nazi eagle or the swastika and you read the names of the people who were sentenced to death penalty by them.”

“For example, when the Bolsheviks banned Václav Černý, after he published the First Notebook on Existentialism, then (grammar school professor Tylman – ed.’s note) said in the literary circle which he had established: ‘Here you go, this is a writer who he has troubles with the political regime.’ It was after February 1948 and professor Václav Černý published the First Notebook on Existentialism, about the large literary and spiritual movement in France. ‘And make out of it whatever your mind is capable of.’ Horanský did one presentation, and then there was another. And the students were discussing it and with pencil in hand we were underlining the text. And he would finish the parts which we did not understand. But can you imagine what great power it is, when you are sixteen and you can touch this great spirit of Václav Černý? And a year later he is kicked out from all universities. Not only the civic aspect, but also the fact that in this way you are learning about existentialism and he did a basic summary of that. An unforgettable experience.”