"PAPER HEADS" ""The time is ripe, fragrant with hope." "We all sing The song of liberty." "Forward, comrades, Towards the promised land," "Which the whole world will envy!"" "1st of MAY PARADE PRAGUE, BRATISLAVA 1945 - 1989" ""New gardens are in bloom," "Glory to all they call." "Hey, hey, the sun is rising!" "The slave breaks his chains." "Under Lenin's flag," "The earth rumbles, The whole earth rumbles." "Forward we march" "Courageous and proud Under the red flag!" "Hey, hey, the sun is rising!" "For the workers good The Party fights."" ""Ring out, song of victory," "Song of Slovak warriors" "Who fought the enemy" "For freedom And the Honour of the Fatherland. "" ""Ring out, song of victory," "Song of Slovak warriors!" "Today the march of warriors" "Resounds in the worker's song. "" "A film by" "PAPER HEADS" "MAY DAY 1990, BRATISLAVA" "They are cute, aren't they?" "Look how they ended up!" "Long live the Czechoslovak Communist Party!" "Long may it live!" "Long may it live!" "Freedom... is the greatest gift I ever received." "Freedom..." "means not being afraid." "I don't know it's release from a strangle hold." "1945 LIBERATION OF PRAGUE" "Without them, we wouldn't have been freed." "When you're in prison, you keep thinking of freedom." "It's your only hope." "Freedom is when you are free, you can live freely surrounded by those you love." "When you can think, reason and act freely, when no one restricts you." "After the war, total hysteria!" "Those wearing white ribbons as armbands were attacked, knocked down." "It was not revenge." "It was as though everyone had gone mad." "Revolutionary guards - we called them the looters - used to take away the Germans and beat them." "One of them with his hands up, they kept tripping him, and he fell, got up, and the crowd pounced and beat him up without knowing who he was." "DISPLACEMENT OF THE GERMANS" "They were not 'expelled', they were transferred." "It was the decision of the Four Powers." "It's not true that the Czechs would have spontaneously committed criminal acts against German inhabitants, just as the Germans themselves did during the occupation." "We categorically deny it." "It's not true." "No Nazis took part in the 'Brno death march', they were people like you or me." "Men, women, children, the elderly, completely innocent." "Many died for nothing." "They were expelled because they were Germans." "They dragged them out of the parsonage, the two Benedictine priests from Broumov, took them into the forest and shot them." "They are buried near the parsonage where they lived." "They were killed by a thug who used to wreak havoc here." "They were found half-buried, each with 16 gunshot wounds." "And we succeeded in deporting all the Germans." "This display of force proves that our cause is just." "The Germans will never come back again!" "Pankrac Prison holds those who have committed the gravest crimes against our nation, murdering Nazis," "members of Hitler Youth, trained to put your eyes out!" "Long live President Benes and Generalissimo Stalin!" "Long live the eternal friendship between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia!" "Accept these flowers." "Greetings to your families." "Thank you..." " And from me too." " Thank you." "And the soldiers march off." "Yes, they are leaving." "You take with you a piece of our hearts and a part of our souls." "Love and loyalty!" "Don't forget us!" "We will never forget you!" "Never!" "DEPORTATION TO THE SOVIET UNION." "We were driven in those goods wagons." "It was winter, severe frosts." "Our hair froze to the wagon walls." "We were in total blackness." "No one knew why we were being taken away." "In one wagon alone forty people died." "When we unloaded them, they were pitiful to see." "They hadn't survived the journey without food or water and the terrible cold." "Sheer cruelty." "Starvation and hard labour." "Eyes bulging out of your skull." "You see a living man who looks like a skeleton." "Starvation!" "Every minute you had to fight for survival." "We were so hungry that we ate the grass as it grew." "Breakfast is served al fresco, from the rich pasture." "With the sun and good humour, the basis for healthy living." "We were unable to tell one day from the next." "We worked all year round like slaves, apart from May Day and the anniversary of the October Revolution." "We dug a large pit." "The corpses were thrown in." "If a frozen corpse didn't fit in, a soldier jumped in, snapping its arms and legs so that it would fit." "ELECTIONS IN 1946" "The electoral committee has had the numbers drawn." "The Communist Party has drawn number one!" ""WHO SHALL WE VOTE FOR?"" "VOTE No.1!" " Comrade...." " What's the matter?" " Comrade..." " What is it?" " May I join you?" " No you can't..." " May I join you?" " I told you, you can't." "May I join you?" " Oh my God!" " Comrade..." "You know the results." "The winners are the Communists." "...but I love you so much!" "The Democrats won in Slovakia..." "I love you so much..." "I dreamed of Lenin..." ""Lenin, can you hear me?"" "He tells me: "Come along." "Don't be afraid."" "And we went down these underground corridors." "And I say to myself: "Lord, we're going to my old labour camp." "I must get out of here!"" "I was petrified." "I wanted to go back but there was no way out." "I was lost... in the corridors..." "After nationalization, they confiscated my father's shop." "He was questioned in such a way that they put his hands on the top of a hot stove." "He never had problems with the law." "I don't even think he had ever had a fine." "When they made a "criminal" out of him, his whole world collapsed." "He broke down." "Concrete, concrete!" "More concrete!" "12,500 cubic meters of concrete!" "50 quintals of concrete every five minutes!" "They won!" "They fulfilled their pledge to the 19th Congress of the CPSU." "Sing out the song To the glory of labour!" "Honour our labour" " The only way to lead" "Mankind to prosperity." "Everything Man owns is gained only through honest labour." "Honour our labour!" "Long live work!"" "This is the Tower of Death, where uranium ore was ground, where the radiation was the strongest." "Both my ears and my nose bled." "My testicles were swollen." "Most of the workers here were priests." "They inhaled radioactive dust without protection." "That's how they were liquidated." "The radioactivity was everywhere." "In our food, in our clothes in which we worked and slept." "The camp commander welcomed us, saying:" ""This is the end of the road, don't think you'll ever escape!"" "If you didn't reach the quotas, they made you stand freezing in your underwear like in a German concentration camp." "If you moved, they saw it as an attempt to run away." "If a prisoner lost his nerve and touched the fence, he was shot." "Just in my shorts, barefoot, no shirt... they put me in the shooting zone." "It was freezing." "If I had moved they would have shot me." "I knew that." "How long did you stand?" "24 hours, as I was told by fellow prisoners." "This is how that year started, solemnly and merrily." "Nobody asked what the new year would bring." "One thing was sure:" "It would bring important and fruitful work for all." "The first of five bountiful years, full of unsuspected changes, old dreams come true!" "When I woke up, my wounds were festering." "To be cured, they told me to... crow like a cock every morning and bark every evening." "I had to crow six times..." "At each session, the guards were there." "They took the chains off my hands and legs." "And they ridiculed me as I was made to crow and bark." "Three prisoners tried to run away." "One of them was shot dead." "And all three were put in this bunker." "The corpse was left there with them for two days... they stood ankle deep in water red with blood." "The new generation to whom the world belongs o improve and reform!" "This railway will lead us to a better world." "For the new generation manual and intellectual work are one and the same." "They understand that they work for themselves." "We are building the only property we have!" "The accused is Ivan Isidor Frostig, goldsmith and jeweller." "From 1907 until the beginning of 1952 he stored up hoards of gold, silver, platinum, and foreign currencies." "Hoping for the capitalists' return, he concealed them from the process of nationalization." "These were the acts of the criminal Frostig!" "The accused, how did you amass such wealth?" "Mr. Chairman, when I was a worker, I saved up," "I never went out, I even didn't drink wine..." "Like every capitalist criminal, Frostig is cowardly when found out." "Piles of money, dollars..." "What proof of his capitalist greed!" "You have stolen from the working people and buried all this wealth as you were expecting war, the coup d'etat and return of the capitalists." "Isn't that so, Mr. Frostig?" "Our people can grow in peace guarded by our police!" "The justified death sentence pronounced on the class enemy represents the will of our working people." "I was pushed into a room where there were several men and a woman." "I was ordered to strip before the "interrogation" began." "They beat my legs with the blade of a sword." "My thighs were bloody." "No questions were asked." "I was just beaten." "Worst of all, two guards grabbed my arms, a third held my neck." "The fourth had a burning cigarette." "He said: "Will you talk?"" "And he burnt me here, with his cigarette." "The peasants have harvested wheat." "They are swiftly threshing, joyfully, like good farmers." "They are threshing day and night." "I was beaten with truncheons, canes, a kind of needle." "They treated us like numbers, not human beings." "They knocked out 13 of my teeth." " "You're worse than the Gestapo!"" " "You whore, we'll show you we're stronger than the Gestapo!"" "After a twelve hour interrogation I fainted from hunger." "They brought me dill sauce." ""Eat it," they said..." ""Wait a second..."" "And one of the security men urinated in the sauce." "They held me down and poured it down my throat." ""The time is ripe, fragrant with hope." "We all sing The song of liberty." "Forward, comrades, Towards the promised land, which the whole world will envy!"" "You're naked, blindfolded and your hands tied, and they tell you they are going to make tomato puree for you, which means slowly crushing your testicles." "They wrapped them in a towel which they twisted slowly, crushing them completely." "COLLECTIVIZATION" "We were taken to the National Committee building." "They were setting up a cooperative." "When we refused to hand over our land, we were taken to the public prosecutor who told us:" ""You either join the cooperative, or you go to prison!"" "The boundaries which caused quarrels and litigation are disappearing into the realms beyond recall." "Let old and young celebrate their abolition." "They took me there and ordered me to strip." "So I did." "They didn't give me any clothes." "They just walked around me, around an elderly woman, laughing." "I begged them to give me some clothes." "But they refused." "The police came with workers and surrounded the yard and the stables." "They stole our wheat and supplies." "They stole horses, cows, sheep and poultry." "Father was arrested, mother was expelled." "They made me leave and I was sent to hard labour..." "So the farm was left." "They were people without morals." "Robbers, thugs..." "We never received a penny!" "May Day in Moscow and in the whole of the USSR is a festival of victory to celebrate the rise of Socialism." "A salute to peace." "Under Stalin's wise leadership, the first Socialist country will bloom to yield even more fruit." "To see May Day in Moscow used to be every comrade's dream in our country..." "Long live Stalin!" "Long live Moscow!" "Long live the USSR!" "For such words comrades used to be sent to prison." "You're in the cell, alone." "Total silence, without any contact..." "You need to talk to someone, to hear someone." "There's nobody there." "And so you just walk, walk, walk, that's your only activity." "No books, nothing." "Only few years agothe sale of the Soviet press was a telling example." "They were trying to find their readership here." "Today the readers come to seek them." "Soviet newspapers and magazines are the truest friends of all those who seek new paths to a happy life." "Just what comrade Aliger was looking for:" "New ways of speed-milling. #" "Soviet engineer Tchernova has found the key!" "Thanks to the experience of Russian innovators, comrade Aliger, awarded the labour medal, exceeds his quotas by over 500%!" "The Russian press offers everything that interests us." "And now let us sing its praise!" "WITH SOVIET UNION FOR EVER!" "WOMAN FROM THE GULAG" "Every day we were given pills to prevent our periods, so we could not have children." "Well, we all swelled up, we were in pain." "One woman was really swollen." "We thought it was the tablets." "But she was expecting a baby." "It was born abnormal." "She wept, took a bandage, and smothered the baby." "She was so desperate..." "VALLEY OF JOY" "WE ARE RISING YOUTH, YOUTH OF KLEMENT GOTTWALD" "ARCHIVES OF THE POLICE" "Speak clearly." " Do you understand the charges?" " Yes, I do." " Do you know what you are accused of?" " Yes I do." "Speak up." "Of committing of committing... a crime..." " Of high treason!" " Of high treason..." "And what else?" "...of espionage." "Do you plead guilty to these acts?" "I plead guilty." "At the state court in Bratislava a trial took place of traitors" "Obuch, Ursiny and consorts, sworn to uphold the Republic, yet plotting its downfall." "Amongst their crimes, are some of the most serious:" "Preparing the secession of Slovakia, divulging state secrets, military treason." "Yes." "We wanted to increase Western influence, to achieve a balance..." "Or to allow Western dominance?" "When I was on the Committee I simply aimed at a balance." "But I disagreed with the communist coup d'etat." "You were against it?" "The political trial of Milada Horakova started off a series of legally sanctioned murders which strengthened the regime." "Let this trial teach us vigilance but also hatred!" "Hatred for those who, not having the strength to overthrow our world, still try to harm us." "We can live here without them, happily and as human beings!" "People of this Republic will not only build a paradise on earth, they will also protect it against all the devils and evils of the 20th century." "No, the vigilant farmer is not lulled by apparent calm." "He recognizes the dangers threatening his rosebuds." "He is preparing bitter revenge against the pests." "According to lawn 231 of 1948, paragraph 34 of the penal code," "Dr. Horakova is sentenced to death." "As are Jan Buchal, Oldrich Pecl and Zavis Kalandra." "Our working people have answered the traitors." "We despise all these traitors." "Our only answer to them is to step up our watchfulness and vigilance to build up the socialist edifice as soon as possible." "My reply?" "I'll exceed the norms by 20% and so I'll earn more per hour." "I call on all comrades to work to contribute to the quicker construction of Socialism and to the strengthening of the world peace front!" "My brother was led in by two or three guards." "I thought to myself:" ""Oh God, if only he could escape!"" "They stood behind him with their rifles." "My brother was extremely brave." "And so we were." "We didn't cry." "I kept writing to Prague and asking for pardon." "I never got a reply!" "I did not even learn of the date of his execution." "Do you know where your husband is buried?" "In Dablice." "I have these photos:" "These are mass graves." "He must be in one of them." "I don't know which one." "In each of them, there are 50 to 150 executed people." "Comrades, we are here to thank you for all your deeds, and to tell you the pioneers, can help you in your work." "We greet the delegation of the Central Committee led by our beloved comrade Zapotocky!" "With a song on their lips, and flowers in their hands, the pioneers arrive!" "Tomorrow's masters of fields and machines, conquerors of nature, future intellectuals and builders, artists and engineers!" "Happy children of today!" "Architects of the bright future of Communism!" "Long live the new youth, Gottwald's youth!" "On behalf of all children, comrade Barborka, a pupil from Bratislava, greeted the Congress." "Long live the CP of Czechoslovakia led by our beloved President:" "Comrade Klement Gottwald!" "KLEMENT GOTTWALD" "Above all we must pull out the roots from which these reactionary weeds have grown." "We must be on constant alert against internal sabotage, reactionaries within our land collaborating with agents and spies from abroad." "We must scrupulously purify the state institutions." "Vigilance against enemies of all kinds is vital." "At the political trial of the conspirators headed by Slansky," "Joseph Urvalek was Chief Prosecutor." "These conspirators hoped to win the majority of votes at the National Party Conference and thus carry out a coup d'etat within the party as well as in the State." "And worst of all... they hid behind the red booklet of the Communist Party so praised by our poet Neumann!" "In vain their pretence!" "All in vain, their villainy behind beautiful words!" "The party of the working people the Communist Party led by President Gottwald, crushed this band of traitors in time!" "Yet, in spite of this, our plan is triumphant." "We are building a new life for ourselves and our children." "Against a few conspirators are raised the fists of the unshakable masses." "In the name of our peoples, whose liberty and happiness have been threatened," "I demand the death penalty for all the accused!" "Let your sentence strike like an iron fist without mercy!" "Let your fire burn this treachery down to its roots!" "I demand for my father the death penalty." "Now I see that he does not deserve the name "human"" "for this creature has neither dignity nor human feelings and was my greatest enemy." "On entering the courtroom, I saw my mother." "She didn't recognize me." "She went on looking for me." "I wanted to cry:" ""Mother, where are you looking?" "I'm over here!"" "She didn't recognize me!" "I was shocked." "I don't remember the trial." "The policeman and other accused nudged me at each question." "I had to ask them to repeat as I didn't understand." "I replied phlegmatically, without motivation." "I had already accepted the death penalty as my fate." "Our artists develop their skills to entertain our workers!" "They made me sign court minutes already written." "I was never delivered the indictment." "Five minutes before the trial my defence counsel said he hadn't had time to read my charges." "They were read to me." "I was not allowed to comment." "I wanted to speak, but they told me to be quiet." "Then I told them that the accusations were fabricated." "And not just this!" "We expect more from you!" " The railway of the Young!" " Let us build our Fatherland!" " The railway of the Young!" " We're fighting for peace!" " Railway of the Young!" " Work, Peace, Cakes..." "Hurrah!" "At that time we thought that everything would be over in a year or two." "And so we did not care if we got 10 or 20 years, or life." "We truly believed that this system couldn't last." "It would all be over one day." "These clouds are blown by an ill wind from the West." "Aided by the wind and clouds" "American imperialists have sent us the Colorado beetle." "A father and his son notice something." "They bend down and find a beetle!" "There it is, the Colorado beetle!" "The latest invention of American barbarism!" "These larvae are the offspring of the perpetrators of nuclear war!" "But they have miscalculated!" "And they should know now, even in the West, that we pass swiftly from word to deed!" "We will find and destroy every single beetle!" "He, beloved of our people for his goodness, care and wisdom..." "In fact, Gottwald died of syphilis which burst the aorta, releasing blood into the chest." "He, the inspiration of our happy new life, founder of the brotherly unity between Czechs and Slovaks, has passed away." "We do not know how affected his brain was." "He sent even his close colleagues to prison and to death..." "RUDOLF SLÁNSKY Sécretaire Général du Parti communiste" "I do confess that I contacted a representative of Anglo-American imperialists and their intelligence services" "infiltrating the internal security of our country." "They carried out hostile activities and betrayed the Czechoslovak people." "We swear, comrade Gottwald, that we will never betray your sacred legacy." "Solid and unshaken, strong and resolute, with honesty and courage, the Slovak people will fulfill its heritage." "As never before, in us, Klement Gottwald lives on!" "Forever with him, forward and on to victory!" "This was simply a crime against human dignity." "I knew the truth was on my side." "This knowledge gave me strength to hang on." "Each suffering had its own meaning when defending freedom of thought and human values." "How joyful were the words of comrade President Novotny when he spoke about our future in the communist society." "...ln the newspapers you can read about the future communist society." "It is the "Programme for Building the Communist Society"." "This is our target by 1980." "My husband was asked to officially renounce his religious faith and bring up our children according to Marxist-Leninist ideology." "Otherwise he couldn't teach any longer and would become a manual worker." "My husband refused and had to work as a labourer." "VISIT" "As we are so short of time we want to show our brothers, our teachers, our real pride - modern socialist construction!" "They share our happiness, our success is their success, the fruits of Socialism!" "Exercises before work." "Outside if the weather permits." "We practice movements beneficial to those muscle groups which will be most in use at work." "It's good for the muscles and lightens the spirits." "A smiling face, good humour, light heartedness, are our best helpers at work." "We were second-rate citizens." "There were no decent jobs for us." "When I came back from prison even my friends shunned me." "When walking down the street they crossed over to the other side to avoid speaking to me." "Through fear..." "History will not forget this glorious era." "Socialism is victorious in Czechoslovakia." "No, our success did not come easily." "It was forged in the flames of furnaces." "We, the workers, have built magnificent monuments." "Yet even under the protective surface the metal sometimes rusts." "In the cracks, corrosion deposits develop." "They penetrate the base coat." "And gradually, they eat away larger cracks." "And sometimes they destroy the metal." "How does it happen?" "Unsheltered building material, new, and yet already rusty is used in construction." "Thus, millions are lost all year round." "What better demonstrationof the stability and strength of our socialist order?" "What clearer result of the work of all our people?" "It is solely up to you, comrades, to see that your machines, your faithful companions, do not end in such a scrapyard." "GUSTAV HUSÁK" "I was asked the following direct question:" ""Mr. Husak, won't you deceive us?" "The Party which encourages new tendencies from time to time, has always lied to us."" "A priori we don't believe anybody." "And I wish for the same attitude towards myself." "You can judge later whether I was honest or deceitful." "Promises have no sense." "In any position, high or low," "I would try, in light of the past, with honesty and reason," "IN THE NAME OF US ALL to solve the problems we face and, above all, to consult our people." "ALEXANDER DUBCEK" "Thank you." "Thank you very much." "We love you." "Thank you." "The Prague Spring of '68 remains, despite its contradictions, one of the brightest moments of our history." "The ideas for renewal did not come from bureaucrats or intellectuals but from the needs of real socialism." "For its plan of action the Communist Party won over the majority." "It is rare that a political party succeeds in gaining such confidence in such great ideas." "THROUGH THE SOVIET EYES" "What does the Soviet propaganda say about the Prague Spring?" "Jan Prochazka, a propagator of anti socialist views..." "Listen to what he says to the young:" "Censorship is dead!" "A free exchange of opinions will join us with Europe again!"" "Oto Sik, an active revisionist, allied with counter-revolutionaries, with the so-called new economic model, which should put out country back on the road to capitalism." "Under the cloak of tourism, Bundeswehr agents, transmitters and weapons were smuggled into Czechoslovakia." "As if at one command, anti socialist forces arose." "Provocative notices..." "In the streets unkempt youths rioting under Western influence." "Look closely at shots taken by foreign cameramen!" "Gangsters setting Russian machines and armoured cars on fire, provoking Russian soldiers and starting fires." "Russian soldiers arrived to help their friends." "My son was on his way home from work." "When he heard shooting, he tried to hide, but didn't manage to." "He was hit by a bullet and died instantly." "There's no words to express it." "I felt the most incredible pain which I'll never forget." "He was already dead when I got to him." "My world was shattered." "I can't describe that terrible moment." "I was demented with grief." "I kept saying to myself: "He's dead."" "Could you forgive them?" "No, I couldn't." "And I never will." "Never!" "How could I?" "In this new confrontation the counter-revolution was crushed." "They did not succeed in confusing the masses." "The National Security forces the Border Guards, the troops of the Ministry of the Interior, the army and the militia could rely on the strength of the Communist Party." "And they thus conquered the counter-revolution." "I can't tell you." "I'm scared." "Everybody is scared." "Scared." "Fear." "It looks just like the fifties are being revived." "And one is afraid to speak." "One girl wanted to lay flowers here." "But a policeman pushed her away." "A militia man hit her in the face." "Then they dragged her away by her hair..." "People kept shouting:" ""Husak's Gestapo!"" "At the beginning of 1969, as a protest against the occupation," "Jan Palach burned himself to death." "If he had shot himself, it wouldn't have been as atrocious." "But to set oneself alight!" "It was a horrible death!" "He didn't die immediately, but struggled on for several days." "It wasn't possible just to shrug one's shoulders." "HUNGER STRIKE" "We had to demonstrate that his act was not in vain, that he had touched us, that he was not alone and that there were many of us." "Lots of people came to see us and encouraged us to hold out." "Some old women brought buns." "But we ate nothing!" "WE PROTEST AGAINST THE ISOLATION OF SLOVAKIA!" "When it was over, we had the feeling that we'd won, as we had held out one week." "And then some of us were expelled from university." "We do not want to condemn these breeds." "We just want to improve certain qualities by introducing new blood." "It is a well founded breeding strategy which will bear fruit in some years." "NORMALIZATION" "They had subtle, hidden means of robbing a person of their dignity." "Either you were not allowed to do the job for which you were qualified, or your works were banned from publication." "They wanted to break such people." "My husband died several days after his interrogation." "Some people fell in with the aggressors in order to get privileges, but nobody was forced to." "They asked me if I approved of the invasion of the Russian troops." "I said I didn't." "They asked if I wanted to keep my job." "I said: "It's up to you!"" ""I want to continue lecturing." "But if you are against me..." "They wrote their report, with much detail, and then I was fired!" "All who have been affected must be separated." "Those contaminated should go to the showers." "Those in a state of shock will be treated accordingly and those who have been over contaminated must be washed again." "People feared for their lives." "They didn't see beyond their own shadows." "Survival was more important to them than questions of the conscience." "Every citizen learns to carry out his duties and his tasks." "Attention!" "All citizens!" "This is a radiation warning." "How are you prepared to protect your Fatherland and the Socialist community?" "Most of the citizens in leading positions accepted the Soviet occupation." "People were forced to adapt." "Everybody wanted to keep their job." "Goslings will be warmed by infra-red lamps and then be put in folds." "They wanted to save their own skins, their jobs, or work their way up." "I've little respect for them." "Many were simply pushed aside." "There was even a percentage, a category of unreliable people, and those who had to be liquidated." "The President praised the excellent performance of the Russian soldiers and thanked the Soviet Army for their prompt and effective aid during the critical year of 1968." "People suddenly changed their minds." "They talked in a different way." "Most of the people pretended to believe what was presented to them as reality." "They wanted to be left in peace." "No motivation whatsoever." "If they wanted to achieve anything, they had to become members of privileged groups of citizens." "They were the happy few." "We look to the future with confidence and assurance!" "From the crisis and struggle emerge victorious the Marxism-Leninist doctrine, the workers' class, our working people, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia!" "The mistakes and crises of the past, we will transform them into new achievements!" ""Forward, comrades, towards the promised land, which the whole world will envy!" "Forward, comrades, towards the promised land, which the whole world will envy!"" "They wrote a report about me saying I approved of the policy of the Communist Party." "I signed it." "I felt humiliated." "I knew I was collaborating." "I was a simple programmer and would otherwise have been sacked." "My 22-year old daughter died." "We had a church funeral." "This was widely denounced as a manifestation of my belief in God." "The Central Committee decided that I was not allowed to lecture at the university for this reason." "I told them that German grammar declined the same way for believers and non-believers alike." "Let us begin," "A long B flat but pianissimo!" "Silence, all right?" "All right!" "Let's go!" "Come on, a bit more optimistic, more merrily and concentrate." "Lightly!" "Playfully!" "Once more!" "My husband was forced to leave the university and worked as a labourer for ten years driving an excavator." "My younger son, Milan, wasn't admitted to secondary school even though he was the best at the primary school." "It was very hard for me." "Stop!" "Lighter!" "We can't continue like this!" "Everybody was afraid to say what they thought." "And when I heard about 'Charter 77', saw it as the only means of saying that you disagreed with things here and what you disliked, including that passivity and hypocrisy." "When I came home there were agents and policemen waiting for me." "They forbade me from moving freely at home and even from talking to my husband." "I washed my hands watched over by a policeman." "We were under occupation." "The house-search was a shock." "They searched everywhere even in my wife's underwear." "It was disgusting." "They even looked under the carpet." "They took our paintings." "They registered and wrapped up every piece of china." "They confiscated our savings books." "Why?" "They wanted to prove that things didn't belong to us." "They wanted revenge for our attempts to emigrate." "My brother-in-law had emigrated." "Certain individuals, often dangerous, break the law." "The Police must be both highly qualified and physically fit for prompt action." "They practice different manoeuvres every day." "A bugged phone and flat are humiliating." "To talk to your husband, you have to go out." "It's like living in a glass house." "The slightest whisper is overheard." "You have nowhere to hide." "Strange to say, one gets used to it." "Did you feel isolated?" "I think so." "Yes, towards our neighbours or fellow-workers... if you had work." "Or regarding old friends who stopped speaking." "One felt the two worlds drifting apart." "It's not nice to live as an outcast in one's country." "I was arrested in 1984 because I lent somebody Orwell's book "1984"." "I was condemned." "PRISON" " ILAVA" "They said that I did it out of hostility towards socialism." "My children were astonished." "BRATISLAVA 1988" "Alpha 13, this is Alpha." "Everything OK?" "Nothing so far." "Alpha 13." "They're lighting candles!" "Gamma 2 here." "Go on!" "Get in there now, over!" "Get in line and push them back!" "Gamma 2." "Send all water cannons to the National Theater and fire, over!" "Calling Bean!" "This is Gamma 4." "Push the crowd back!" "Send reinforcements, quick!" "It's no good!" "We stood in the rain with candles, praying." "Police cars with sirens screaming drove into us." "This is Gamma 2." "Maximum force required!" "This is Gamma 2, Gamma 2..." "Use water cannons against the singing crowd!" "Fire all the water cannons!" "Don't stop firing!" "Everybody ran to the Soviet- Czechoslovak Friendship Club." "I saw a little old lady with an umbrella hit by the water jet." "A policeman had her rolling on the ground." "She was in shock." "Policemen were beating my husband in a police car." "They sprayed tear gas in his eyes and mouth." "He was badly bruised." "The doctor confirmed this." "But he was still sentenced to three months in prison." "In front of the National Theater we need more patrol wagons for those we've arrested!" "Alpha 10." "Roger!" "Take away those still forming ranks!" "People at Prior's are waiting for the bus." "Send more patrol wagons!" "Four, it's not enough!" "Near Prior's stores people were waiting for the bus." "The Police began beating them indiscriminately." "PRAGUE 1988 - 1989" "Yes." "Mutual help between human beings..." "Even seemingly impossible tasks have been fulfilled with people's initiative for whom we created better living and working conditions." "The Police pay great attention to the education of the new generation." "And the young repay them with friendship." "We can say it more simply:" "Yes, they are our friends." "They are there when we need them!" "I laid some flowers in remembrance of Palach." "The policemen knocked me down, punched my face and beat me." "I fell down in a faint." "They insulted everyone." "They beat both men and women." "A pregnant woman was kicked in the stomach." "...COURAGE!" "NO VIOLENCE" "Prospects are clear." "Our Socialist society offers opportunities, working people bring their skills, initiative and enthusiasm to reach the great goal:" "The construction of Communism." "MAY DAY BRATISLAVA. 1990 - 1995" "Freedom is something within." "One must have freedom within himself." "It is a natural element like fire or water." "It must be regulated." " A photo?" " Can we climb up there?" "Yes... a free picture!" "What's freedom?" "Being able to say the truth!" "The truth!" "And live in justice!" "At last... for once!" "Let us live in freedom!" "We can speak up, saying everything we couldn't say before." "The future?" "Who knows..." "Freedom..." "I think a lot about it." "It's as if we don't yet know what to do with it." "To be truly free, Man must liberate his inner self, his soul." "I think people have got used to freedom too quickly." "They expect more, perhaps something else which freedom doesn't bring." "We're allright, no better." "As far as I'm concerned," "I am happy." "We're fine." "I think everyone can be happy if they want to, and the prospects are good." "Freedom..." "Actually, a free man cannot do what he wants." "It's a question of conscience and responsibility." "For those who didn't cultivate freedom, for whom it was strange, don't take to it naturally." "Otherwise, they'd know how to use it." " I don't think we're free at all..." " Why not?" "What we have is not freedom, when prostitution is allowed, when everyone can do what they want." "I don't care at all." "Why?" "Because I don't!" "The economic situation's not great." "Prices are going up." "Your pay stays the same..." "It's miserable here." "The old system was better." "People were more friendly." "We're learning about freedom." "Everybody can decide for himself." "It's great!" "The best thing the revolution's done for me." "We hear people talk about democracy, and not so long ago the same people were waving red flags." "I thought that in November '89 the totalitarian regime fell." "But it is resurfacing in another form." "People are marginalised." "These guys control everything." "People are afraid to say the truth again." "What do I think?" "The same people are in power." "They're wiping out the opposition." "It's the second normalization!" ""A new time has come to the world, beautiful mornings have dawned!" "The worker has cried out," "And overthrown his master..." "Hey, hey, the sun is rising!" "For the workers' good the Party fights."" "LONG LIVE COMMUNISM!" "Perhaps we need the kind of society children find in fairy-tales:" "The evil will be punished and the good will win." "We finally have what we have long been waiting for." "And I am happy that it should be so." "We voted for them to have a good life." "And we trust them!" ""Hey' hey, the sun is rising!" "Under Lenin's flag The slave breaks his chains." "The earth rumbles, The whole earth rumbles... "" "English adaptation:" "Alison Hindhaugh Sub  Dub Company" "Subtitles:" "L.V.T." " Paris" "THIS FILM WAS SPONSORED BY" "ARCHIVES" "WITNESS" "PHOTOGRAPHS" "RECHERCHE (BACKGROUND RESEARCH)" "IN COOPERATION OF" "EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS" "PRODUCED BY" "SUBJECT, SCREENPLAY, DIRECTED BY" "LABORATORIES"