Reconstruction of Occupation (2021) - full transcript

For many years I've been
collecting family archive films.

In some way I'm obsessed with them.

Why?
Because they're believable.

I see people who really lived.
I see situations as they happened.

Banalities intertwine
with uniqueness.

A paradox that attracts me.

Some time ago a friend gave me
several dozen boxes of film material.

This material is used exclusively
by professional filmmakers.

Supposedly it captured the occupation
of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

However, nobody
has watched it before.

No way! That's unbelievable!



The occupation of Czechoslovakia
in August 1968

was filmed by crews from Short
Film Prague and Barrandov Studios.

However, none of them correspond
with the films that I received.

I can't believe that four hours
of unpublished film material exist

discovered so long
after August 1968.

I was eleven then

and have a distinct memory
of the invasion of the alien army.

I remember myself
asking several times:

A war started?

Suddenly I realize that I got hold
of a special kind of evidence

that gives me a chance to reconstruct
what happened to us fifty years ago.

RECONSTRUCTION OF OCCUPATION

Hello!

Hi, Marek!
Could you open the garage for me?



Hi!
Are you bringing it back?

These are the boxes you gave me
the last time I was here.

This is how it was two months ago.
Tell me, how did they get here?

How did they get here?

I've had them for at least ten years.

-And where were they before?
-Over there on a shelf.

I mean even before that.
Where did they come from?

I got it from a friend
who didn't know what to do with it.

He did not know what was on it
but he thought it was from 1968.

-And where did he get it from?
-I don't know. I have no idea.

-Let me show you the whole thing.

-It's good! Who...
-Who shot it, right?

This is the bus.

Wait, what bus? You were there?

Yup.

-Could you be there somewhere?
-Yes. That's quite possible.

The director and documentary
film-maker Jan Šikl

got hold of many hours of unique and
unpublished footage from August 1968.

It's absurd that after fifty years,
35 film boxes suddenly surface,

treasures from my point of view

that had been hidden and nobody
tried to make any use of it.

The aim is to find
those among you who can identify

themselves, their fathers, grandmothers
in so far unpublished shots.

Hello? Yes, I sent you
an e-mail yesterday.

I was an eight-year-old boy then.

There was a classic steel
arch bridge there.

And there was a road sign "5T"
in front of the bridge.

They probably thought
it meant "five tanks",

so two or three tanks drove
on the bridge and it collapsed.

They were shooting from Palacký
Bridge and from Charles Square.

They started shooting
and the others joined!

I put a pillow over my ears
so I wouldn't hear it.

There were nurses already there
who pushed our beds into the hall.

There were no windows there
and later they took us down

to a small room
where we spent about a week.

Hello? You will see a young woman

with short dark hair, staring.

Wait, could you tell me
which one is you?

-Yes, I could.
-So wait...

-Black hair?
-Yes, short black hair.

I can see you now.

I like how young I was.

I was there when they arrived
with tanks and troop carries

and when they encircled
the radio station.

I put my baby into a stroller
and I went there.

I was there every day
until they left.

I even dreamed about it. I felt sick
about what happened in the country.

FOR PRESIDENT SVOBODA,
FOR PARTY SECRETARY DUBČEK

It's the morning of the 21st.

It's in Karlovy Vary.
What else would you like to know?

I might have been shouting "Dubček"
or something like that.

I was 23, I guess...

Mr Mucha, I have a suggestion.
Could we meet in person?

Yes, this is us!

This is me and Jirka Hanák
and I think I'm shouting "Dubček".

There was some hope
that the borders would open.

INVADERS

All of sudden,
troops appear in the streets.

It's a terrible shock,
you can't capture it.

Not even describe it.

GO HOME !

It's despair combined with hope,

which is contained
in the word Dubček.

Only today do I realize
what was going on?

Maybe it was Party politics.

I don't understand it at all

and it's the reason why I don't
like political parties in general.

DEAR TO US YESTERDAY,
MURDERERS TODAY

This is me!

You see, just a few meters and
it could have been my name up there.

It is terrible. Suddenly,
you're on the ground crawling

and you wonder if you'll get hit or not.

At that point I did not know
there had been people killed.

Throughout my life,
I have felt humiliation

and horror from the shooting
I experienced there.

But humiliation for the most part.

The fact that somebody comes here
and occupies us.

ATTENTION
STATE BORDER

Did they say "big"?

I can't understand...
Or I don't want to understand.

We just know the Soviet Union
are friends

so we don't understand
why they attacked us.

So we called and asked

but we didn't get an answer.

And one just can't understand
the meaning of the situation.

I can't believe
such an attack was even possible.

RECONSTRUCTION OF OCCUPATION

I remember a Russian tank
approaching us from that street.

Honestly, it didn't feel so good having
a tank gun right in front of your face.

We were defending the radio station.

The Pilsen Radio was the only one
still broadcasting in the country.

This is my mom.

And this is me.

Applause!

Oh no!

-There were lots of people here...
-Why did they come here?

To support the radio!
So the Russkies wouldn't destroy it,

so that broadcasting wouldn't stop
as it had in the whole country.

Pilsen Radio was the last one
still broadcasting.

LONG LIVE PILSNER RADIO!

"Rather than give Russians eggs,
I hung myself by my legs."

I must say I never felt like filming
when I woke up in the morning.

I felt sick.
I can't stand such things.

I went there because
I felt it was my duty.

Recently I was joking
that I was glad

when Russians took over everything
and I didn't have to go out to film.

-What made you feel disgusted?
-Well, I was simply scared!

There were bullets flying by
at Wenceslas Square. It wasn't fun!

Wait, wait!

These look like my shots.

They're all lost.

But I didn't take this
it is from the opposite side.

Hello. Peter Kalmus speaking.

I've had some stuff from family
archives boxed up for many years.

16 mm film, high quality.
Let me know if you're interested.

It's good...
I wish the film had not been made!

The occupation hadn't happened!
The communism never existed! But…

My late father-in-law remembered

he had the film
somewhere at his cottage.

It was buried in the ground,

packed and sealed
in a metal container.

This is it.

Thousands of citizens
of the town of Košice

with stones and bare hands...
Unarmed, not even an air gun.

There was a hotel being built there,
they took bricks and threw them.

They simply tried, tried to stop them
by emotions, which wasn't possible.

You can't stop thousands of cars
with bare hands or a brick.

FREEDOM FOR CZECHOSLOVAKIA !
OUR FREEDOM IS CALLED DUBČEK

Halt!

Turn!

AS LONG AS WE ARE HERE,
WE'LL HOLD OUR COUNTRY DEAR !

GO HOME !

GO HOME !

The first takes are
from Hradec Králové airport,

judging by the numbers
on the MiG planes.

There were only two regiments
with MiGs-15 at that time.

You were the airport commander?

I was his deputy.

At 1:30 AM I got a phone call
from the airport supervisor,

he told me we were being occupied.

He sent a car for me,
I came out of my house

and I could see and hear
a stream of planes humming,

and nothing was happening!

Nobody would tell us anything!

They were all coming from the east.

We had seven fighter regiments
in this direction!

Seven!

And above us planes flew carrying tanks,
armored troop carriers, soldiers...

We never got any order!

A soldier doesn't ask
if he is going to die or not.

A soldier doesn't ask
if he is going to win or lose.

At 3:30 PM we got the first orders

from the Ministry of Defense
and from the President.

The two orders contradicted
each other.

According to one,
we were supposed to provide

all necessary help
to the occupying soldiers,

the other one said
we should provide nothing.

Then, some Polish
paratroopers dropped.

And they treated us like...

I felt like our people felt
during the occupation in 1939.

Yes, I see you.
Come here. This street.

This is Miško's blood.

This is the door to the shop,
it shut down afterwards.

They would run for the door.

And when he turned back,
he got shot.

"A student of our school, M. Hamrák,
died tragically on August 21, 1968"

The army hospital
is quite far away from our flat.

We got there after 8 PM,
it was already curfew.

By the last 500 meters to the
Hospital, we were already crawling.

We got there, my mom got up,
banged on the door and said:

"I am looking for my son."
Then the gate opened...

I can still recall their exact words
although I was a ten-year old girl.

"Who are you looking for?"

"We are looking for Miško Hamrák.
We thought he might be here, wounded."

"He is here. He is dead."

It was too much even for me
as a ten-year old kid.

My mom collapsed.
Was lying on the ground.

I lay down on top of her...
That's all I know.

On August 21, my mom
took my hand at 10 PM

and held my hand for a week.

She kept holding my hand.
Always.

-Hello, are you Mr Šikl?
-Yes, I am.

-You are Mr Kraus, right?
-Yes, I am.

I don't have a device for watching this.

I also have Palach's funeral.

I used to work here in the Research
Institute of Food Industry.

Can you see the arches?

From the first floor there, I was filming

And one of the approaching tank
shot at me as it came closer.

Where in Prague did you film?

-At an ice-skating rink and places...
-I mean in 1968.

Oh, in 1968...
At Vinohradská Street.

They were just coming!

I wanted to document it because
I could not believe my eyes.

That it was even possible.

That it was possible after the war...
In peaceful times...

To shoot at the people.
To shoot at the radio building.

My eyes were filled
with tears because

they were doing unbelievable things.

A tank hit a bus.
They broke a baker's van

and the buns were scattered
around the street.

My mind rose against it,

it was beyond me.

They jumped down
and started to shoot around...

He got pissed off, took an axe

and started trashing the tanks.

He got my respect.

We were all eighteen
or nineteen then

and we agreed to leave... the country.

Is it true?

She emigrated to Australia.
I left for Germany.

Vrba was in Sweden.
Svozil is in Norway.

Twenty people. All our acquaintances.
They either went to prison or...

What happened in 1945?

In 1945 my dad did not come back
from the war.

The Germans interned him.

I have been a half-orphan since.

In 1960 I got married.

1968: a turning point in my life.

I got interested in politics

and was disappointed
at the same time.

Our society...

...when I returned from the army in 1960,

the new Constitution was written.

They released many prisoners.

Even the hockey players
who were imprisoned then.

In 1968, my children
were seven and eight

so I took them to Prague Castle
when President Novotný was dismissed

and as a family, we all went
to the election of Ludvík Svoboda.

I took an active part

and showed my children the direction
the country might take.

There was some hope
that it would be different.

There were many of us who could
still remember the First Republic.

We were sons of small sole traders
or sons of various company owners.

There were workers who remembered
what it was like earlier.

-And what did you expect?
-That it would come back.

It was not that long after 1945.

Why should you look at
such a terrible humiliation?

You can see
they destroyed everything.

This is the so-called
"revival process".

It was the best effort
this nation had made

since the National Revival
in the 19th century.

People did not realize
what a great moment it was.

Everyone treated each other
with great courtesy.

Anti-communists and communists,

except for the villains from the 50s,

tolerated each other
and discussed things.

It was an incredible moment,

the eight months
from January until the Occupation.

I have never again experienced
anything like that.

1989 cannot be compared to it.

It was just a starting point
for accumulating wealth.

There was no meaning.

We used to have a hippie band.

And once, the guys played
completely naked.

All naked, painted.
Like The Primitives Group.

Listen, what happened
on May 1, 1968...

there is a monument to the fallen
soldiers in the square.

There was a May Day Parade,
we got out the sound system.

There was rock music playing
at the parade

and we put out a box for money
and people threw money into it.

In 1968!

Hello?

Hello?

-Hello?
-Hello? Can I help you?

When Svoboda was elected president,

there was a scaffolding
on the Archbishop Palace,

I was standing up there, and
I could see into the courtyard

as Svoboda was passing
the guards of honor.

It was a beautiful day.
The sun was shining.

His head was lit by the sun,
he looked like God.

I was so impressed that I signed
the congratulations at the reception.

I regretted it for long.

Especially after his role in August 1968.
After what he did in Moscow.

At that time, the nation was very sentimental
towards Dubček.

They raised hopes...
False hopes!

Actually, they were driven
by the rise of the nation.

WE DON'T WANT AN OCCUPATION

AWAY WITH TRAITORS !

OCCUPANTS GO HOME !

RUSSIANS GO HOME !

-Mr Zapletal?
-Yes, it's me.

I am Jan Šikl.
Thanks for picking me up.

Come in.

Look, it was meaningless, because it's...

No, it's not hidden. It's here.

Shot through the shoulder.
This is where the bullet entered.

A bullet from a machine gun.

The hole on the other side is bigger.

There is a tank in front of
the Communist Party Central Committee.

It's literally below the windows
of Alexander Dubček's office.

I jumped on a troop carrier
and as I rode on it,

I felt some: Bump - Bump!

These bumps were a woman's thighs.

She did not manage to get away

and the troops carrier
rode over her legs.

When the crowd saw the woman,
the people went wild.

Somebody screamed: "Get them!",

and the crowd attacked the soldiers.

Then something stopped me.

I realized I was shot
and I flung myself behind a street lamp.

They were not firing
at the people, of course,

otherwise there would have been
dozens of people dead.

They fired above people's heads

with the expected effect.

Everyone lay down on the ground

and the attack on the Soviet troops
was stopped.

I screened it... but...

Who am I supposed to play it for?

Myself?

Nobody cares.

The first thing I did was grab a bag

and run out to Strossmayer Square
to go shopping.

There were people already in line

who had the same idea.

The atmosphere was great.
People were helping each other.

If somebody didn't have money,
others would lend them some.

So I did my shopping.

Incredibly positive relationships
were revealed there in the line.

This is where the bullet penetrated.

Another penetration,

you should be able to see it now.

We found out at noon.

They arrived in the morning and
my brother was wounded at noon.

We hated the Russkies!
We blamed it all on them of course!

What do you mean "changed?"

A young guy was shot to death
less than a meter away from me.

He was holding a flag, maybe
that's why they focused on him.

And as he was falling down,
without a single sound,

the flag fell on him.
That's why it was covered in blood.

Fifty years! That can't be true...

It's a shock, you know.

All your life you are told:

"Forever with the Soviet Union.
They are our friends."

And suddenly you realize

a friend is standing against you
with a machine gun.

It was like a spectacle.
It was fun in some way

watching people attack
the Soviet soldiers verbally.

It was amazing. The soldiers
could not believe their eyes.

I liked the fact that
the resistance was so intellectual.

I got a good impression
of the Czech nation.

Why do you talk to them at all?
Look at their stupid faces.

They have no idea
who they are and where they are.

Why they are here.
What language we speak here.

I stopped at Wenceslas Square.
Trucks held young boys waving flags

as if we'd won a hockey championship.
I didn't like that.

Then I met a group of people who found out
that if you take a manhole cover

and cram it under the tracks
of a tank,

the tracks would come off
and those tanks would go in circles.

There were a few guys who came
with Molotov cocktails

and they threw them from the front
at the tank, which is wrong.

It was supposed to hit the engine.

Later, we threw a Molotov cocktail
at a truck with a tilt

because it burned much faster
than a tank.

We could remember what we were told
in the army, how to destroy things.

I did my military service in a troop
where we were trained to be thorough.

How to set something on fire
and destroy things.

I never used it, only here once
- and it worked!

This is Vinohrady Hospital.

I had been there since 10 AM already.

Oh, that's me over there!

I was radical then

and might have advocated
for the Hungarian way.

To fight as long as you can.

SHIT !

I think that the resistance
would be good in the future.

And then a guy came and said:

"What are you doing, guys?
They came to help us!"

I got really upset.

You believe
you are doing something right

and then he tells you:

"What are you doing?
They came to help us!"

USSR - GO BACK HOME

MURDERERS !

ATTENTION !
GO HOME !

This is Kateřina Kovářová,
Czech Television.

An unknown person left a box
with a film at the reception desk.

He didn't leave his name, any
contact. I have no idea what it is.

WE WERE AND WE WILL BE !

When they took our politicians
and our president to Moscow

we went into the streets
and protested but that's it,

that was all we could do.

They did not react to it at all.

I'd say they ignored us.

Brezhnev even said:

"What is it - ten million people?"

YOU HAVE TANKS
WE HAVE THE TRUTH !

FOR DUBČEK,
FOR SVOBODA, FOR ČERNÍK

AWAY WITH THE TRAITORS
AND COLLABORATORS !

"I protest! I am on a hunger strike
from 21.8. till 25.8. Join me!"

"Our motto: We won't eat,
will drink only water,

until they return us
Svoboda and Dubček!"

This is me.

I was a head guard, a sergeant.

When the Russians got here, I said:
"Guys, don't do anything stupid."

"No shooting,
no heroism is worth it."

We told them to leave.
But they did not ask.

They broke the lock
and started to disarm us.

Some were reluctant
so I said: "Give it to them."

Because I knew
our brothers came to defend us.

That's what we were
able to get out of it...

Then the commander of
the tank battalion called me

and said it was a smart decision.

I got this watch as a reward
and a week off.

Because I stayed calm,
I reacted reasonably

and there was no military incident.

"WE ASK FOR THE WITHDRAWAL
OF OCCUPATION TROOPS".

"JOIN IN,
YOUR FUTURE IS ALSO AT STAKE".

I wanted to fight and was foolish
enough to go to the army department

and I asked the major:

"The Russians are here.
Where should I go?"

He said: "What do you mean?"
I said: "Mobilization."

He said:
"There will be no mobilization!"

And when he said that, I asked myself:
"Why did we do military service?"

"SVOBODA + ČERNÍK + DUBČEK
= THE ONLY LEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT"

"FREEDOM FOR THE NATION.
AWAY WITH TRAITORS AND COLLABORATORS"

The people in the streets were brave.
And our leaders in Moscow

had the information that
the nation was resisting.

But the nation's morale has to be
supported by the personalities who lead.

And they won't betray!

They must show they are the ones,
that they are serious,

ready to sacrifice "their lives and fortunes."
As the noblemen say.

THE YOUTH WELCOME YOU,
DEAR COMRADES

OUR PROTECTORS

I can't really imagine

what else we could have done
if we didn't want bloodshed.

I wouldn't be against
bloodshed though.

But today people would say:

"Dubček, you knew how it would end.

Why have you done it?
You didn't have to do it!"

What kind of change can you,
an average Joe, make?

I don't read any newspaper today,
I buy nothing

because...

I know that all elections
are always manipulated

and it's kind of a mockery
of the whole society

that is willing to accept
and comes to terms with everything.

What struck me at Wenceslas Square
were groups of people,

ten, twenty people chanting

"We won't live on our knees"

and "Freedom, freedom," and so on.

And nobody joined them!

The celebration of the October
Revolution followed right after

and Soviet and Czechoslovak flags
were put up in our school,

and my boys burnt the Soviet one and
left the Czechoslovak flag untouched.

I knew who did it. There was
an investigation, criminal police.

Our people investigated it.
Who, why, how...

The two guys who did it
would have been expelled for good.

And how did it end?

It was hushed up.
Only I and they knew it.

The principal also tried
to force me to say who did it.

I said: "I don't know."

Ten months and then he died anyway...

Mom took his white shirt and
stuck it out of the window

the way people did it with flags.
It was stained with blood.

I remember the municipal council
called her and told her to remove it.

She wanted to express it somehow.
What else could she do?

How could we fight back?
We were ordinary people.

And the people surrendered.
Look at today's situation after all.

They also surrendered.
In 1968, six or ten days, and then it was quiet!

They were building socialism again -
pubs were packed...

People grumbled but went to the
obligatory May Day Parade anyway.

LONG LIVE THE REPUBLIC
OF SVOBODA AND MASARYK !

YOU PUT OBSTACLES IN OUR WAY

UNTIL WE THROW ONE AT YOU !

I surrendered as well.

Come. Here.

THE COMMUNISTS

ARE BASTARDS.

BIG ONES.

This is my political
testament that I wrote here...

during the 1968 occupation.

PEOPLE, BE ALERT, A MAN DIED.
JAN PALACH (11.8.1948 - 19.1.1969)

Do you remember when Jan Palach
burnt himself to death?

Yes, I do.

But I won't talk
about it. I'm sorry.

Could you at least explain
why you won't talk about it?

Because I don't get him.

I don't get this act.

What I don't get?

I don't get that Oriental way of suicide.

I won't say anything else.
I just don't get it!

I read a newspaper and I went
to Prague. I was at his funeral.

He made a good protest.
But his death was a loss.

I think that somebody
should have talked him out of it.

On the other hand, it is true

that if a nation
does not have symbols,

it has nothing to refer to
and is missing something.

And what they're missing is
national pride.

I took my students to Palach's
funeral and got fired.

My wife was also fired from school
because of Palach.

I know that there are monuments and
bridges named after him abroad.

So what?

I think he didn't help anyway.
The bigwigs do whatever they want.

RENOUNCING FREEDOM
MEANS RENOUNCING HUMANITY.

Palach's act didn't
wake up the society,

just the opposite,
it brought it to its knees.

The nation completely lost hope.

People gave up!

August 1969

CONFIDENTIAL !

A year later, it was obvious
that it was over.

Why? Because our own people
started to beat us.

What happened to you?

I mean, they did not beat me.
They beat the nation!

The anniversary of August 21, 1969.

Wenceslas Square.

Those were our people who
intervened against the protestors.

And during the next demonstration,
a policeman put me in a police van.

A young guy in the car said:

"What are you doing here, teacher?"

He was a policeman
in plain clothes.

And he let me out.

They brought soldiers
from Kutná Hora,

A guy next to me said:

"There's my son
in that cordon of soldiers."

If it came to a clash,
a son would beat up his father.

The old duffers from People's militia,

that was the end!

That was the moment
I realized it was hopeless.

I don't know...
Why did we lose it so soon?

I think we got it with
very little effort.

So we soon lost it again.

Did you join
the Communist Party after 1968?

I had to.

There was no other way.

A manager in a uranium mine
couldn't be a non-party man.

Did you know that
what you mined would go to Russia?

Of course, we all knew that.

The Russians guarded it all here.

They had their representatives here.

Their minister of energy
would come here every year.

Later I got promoted
and would even meet him.

Or if he was here, I was in the group

who welcomed him,

dealt and drank with him.

How did it feel?

Not very good. But it wasn't
possible to spit in his face.

It didn't agree with my conscience

but it was necessary because
I had to support my family.

I had two children and
the family needed it.

For example, a Russian officer from
the Prostějov airport needed a truck.

They asked me: "Can you do it?"
I said: "Yes, if you pay!" ...I didn't care.

We came to the station in Olomouc,
a train arrived with comrades.

The Russian footmen
were waiting there.

They brought five to eight TVs
per person and I delivered them.

I didn't care. I am being honest.
I said: "I want one TV, OK ?"

Did it make you sad sometimes?

You simply submitted, you know.

It didn't work out when I was young,
then I had a family...

It was a change in my life.

I was against the occupation,
I made the film, I signed petitions.

I used to be an engineer,
but was demoted to a laborer.

I was a subway mechanic
for the next twenty years.

I knew I insisted on this

so I told myself
I'd just be doing something else.

-Did you regret it?
-No.

-Did you regret it later?
-No.

It's a pity.
They take your entire life.

Did you feel like
they took your life?

I couldn't make films for
twenty-five years of my life.

That's quite long.

But then, I got twenty-five
more years when I could.

Look, you have to imagine
that my father lost his hotel.

And he was told that if
he joined the Communist Party,

he could become the manager
of the hotel.

And my dad said NO !

Because some of our friends
were already in prison.

So a decent person
can't accept this.

This is how I see my whole life:
I can't do worse things than my dad.

I was hoping that more people
would behave this way!

For me, it was obvious that I didn't
want to live in this country.

I was in Prague for two more days

and I left on August 24.

StB

The Slovak State Security.

In plain clothes.

They searched our house for flyers,

checked if we were doing
any anti-socialist propaganda.

Our family was affected forever.

It's 8 AM, you're asleep and somebody
kicks in your door. Four cops.

They turn your flat into a mess,
then slam the door and are gone.

After lunch, you want to go
to a cemetery to light a candle,

and there are two cops at the gate,
they won't let you see the grave.

What they did to mom...
They killed her.

She was in a psychiatric hospital for
seven days, getting electric shocks.

This is how they cured her depression.

And when I first saw her after,
it was not a woman, it was an animal.

She was in a psych ward more
than at home for the first two years

and attempted suicide
twenty or thirty times.

Every time we managed to save her
- except the last time.

This is my mom.
And this is me as a child.

Time might dull the pain

but as you get older, you may suffer
even more because you understand it.

You understand
what actually happened,

how your life was destroyed...

The discovered 35 mm film footage was shot
by several anonymous cameramen

of the former Army Film. To this day,
most of it is thought to be lost.