Martina Hošková

„Vím, že v rámci tady toho vyhlášení [Desetiletí duchovní obnovy národa] byla v katedrále velká mše, v březnu to muselo být nějak. A to už se vědělo, že se tam lidé chystají přijít a byly ty přístupové cesty uzavřené, že prostě policie se bála nebo něco. Vím, že jsem šla pěšky do katedrály a že jsem to měla pro sebe jako takovou mimořádnou věc, že děti nechám doma a udělám si osobní vnitřní pouť do katedrály. A teď jsem tam viděla hlídkující příslušníky VB, kteří zastavovali auta a říkala jsem si: 'Mě nic nezastaví.' A myslím si, že už to byla taková předzvěst toho, že se národ nějakým způsobem probudil. Vím, že jsme tam měli domluveno, že tam spontánně začneme zpívat jeden zpěv právě, jeden zpěv z Taizé, který už měl česká slova. Myslím to bylo: 'Každý den Pán mi sílu dává, píseň má je můj Pán, když kráčím s ním, nemusím se bát.' Myslím, že ta slova měla v té situaci a v té době takový ještě hlubší význam: 'Když kráčím s ním, nemusím se bát.'“

„A pamatuji si právě, že v tom srpnu, protože bylo léto, tak my jsme na terase také přespávaly, to nás hrozně bavilo, měly jsme tam taková lehátka, tak jsme tam s mojí sestrou spaly. A pořád se mi zdálo, že něco tak trošku hučí, ale my jsme byly děti, tak jsme spaly. A najednou vidím v noci tatínka v pyžamu, jak se na terase kouká na nebe a je takový ustaraný a říkám: ,Tati, co je, proč nespíš?‘ A on jenom tak vzdychnul a řekl: ,No, holčičko, jen aby nebyla válka.‘ A to bylo prostě, že mu ve tři v noci volal kamarád z kvarteta, cellista Mirous Juna, a říkal: ,Prosím tě, Jirko, jsou tady Rusáci.‘ Tak to byl moment v noci a hned brzy ráno nás vyslal tatínek, ať již jdeme do obchodu, protože lidi okamžitě začali vykupovat všechno. Opravdu si ještě pamatovali lidi, co to znamená válka a hlad. Takže v té době už jsme měli sedm dětí a na tatínkovi ležela tíha toho, co bude, když to opravdu bude špatné.“

“Nevertheless, even before Charter 77 appeared, my parents with their way of life and their lack of fear and their knowledge of foreign languages… people simply knew that if somebody from the West arrived and wanted to speak with some Christians, the priests or those who had the contacts would always tell them: ‘Go to the Kaplan family, because they will be able to communicate with you and they are not afraid.’ And my mom was the type of a person who had lots of energy and who was a skilled organizer. And she was not scared, because she used to say: ‘What can they do to me...? I am a mother of many children. And if they come to me and ask how come, Mrs. Kaplanová, that you got some many people in here, I will tell them: So what, my kids have birthday, and so they invited their friends, and well, there are many of us.’”

“It happened in September 1979, and all of a sudden the state police rings the door bell and there is a house search. And they came with certainty, because they already knew and they had already somehow investigated that dad was involved in this. And it started – they checked everything, they confiscated many books. My mom was covertly quickly taking some photocopied documents out of the house and my brother was burning them down there in the stove as fuel. It was like that, kind of a dramatic scene, as if from some detective novel. But it was not pleasant, because it probably lasted the whole day. Then they arrested daddy and they went to the office with him, and then they imprisoned him and we had no idea for how long and what could happen and so on.”

“It was simply a childhood which was amazing for what one perceives around oneself. Today I am already able to judge it, and I see that it was actually wonderful, but at that time we regarded it as nothing special. You are simply growing up somewhere and you think of the place as your home. But when you grow up and you find out that other children are growing up in confined spaces of apartment housing blocks and you realize that your home was something completely different. That was my first impression, that I am aware of, that we had a lot of space, a large garden, and many beautiful things around. Since my mom came from a family of a business man, and before grandfather emigrated, he had provided for her a dowry in the form of antique furniture, a large piano, and beautiful things and paintings. And we had all this at home, and it was our home. But to make it short… what was interesting about my childhood was that since the villa was a large building and it had a basement, too, and since the original owner was no longer able to live in the whole building alone… one of the large rooms in the basement thus belonged to Mr. Jan Koblasa, a painter, who was a student at the Academy of Fine Arts at that time.”