Anonymous
OPINION IN PRAGUE
An interviewer from Palach Press Limited conducted this
informa l public opinion survey in Prague during the trial
of Vaclav Have l and other members of the Committee to
Defend the Unjust ly Prosecu ted last October. (Palach Press
disseminates information that is unavailable from official
Czechoslovakian sources.)
Monday, October 22, a grey morning, Spalena Street,
Prague. There's less of a stir in front of the Municipal Court than one
would have expec ted. But one can tell that something is going on
inside. In front of the entrance is a police car, several uniformed
policemen, and a number of plainclothesmen are standing around.
The secre t police. The " backbone of the state." A lot of people of
different ages enter the building in pairs and groups. I shall not go in.
Others perhaps will give tes timony on the political trial itself, a stage–
managed to ta litarian farce. I am interes ted in the opinions of the
people here in the street. But suppose among those I interview is one of
" them ," or someone who is so scared that he calls. . . . I pluck up my
courage.
I sLOp an o ld lady. "Good morning. I 'm from Palach Press. I'd like
to ask you ... a trial of six peop le is being held near here. What do you
know about it?"
The woman is startled, surprised. She thinks for a moment ... " I
know onl y what I've heard on the foreign radio stations. That they 're
from that committee which records cases of p eople unjustl y convicted.
This is probably another gross injustice. You know, I judge it by what
happened to m y uncl e. During the war he was a pilot in England; he
nearly los t his life, but he returned, and here they made a traitor of him.
H e came back after some years and in a year he was dead . It's a bit
different now, and yet it's the same really. Wrongs, injustice.... "
©
Palach Press Ltd. , 1980
