106
PARTISAN REVIEW
Uhl's conditions are harsher than those of the others because he
has already served a four-year sentence imposed on him in 1970 for
being a leader of the underground Revolutionary Socialist Party. He
can be visited only by his wife and a brother-in-law and only twice a
year for one hour . They can bring him only one parcel, weighing no
more than two kilograms.
The only woman, and the oldest, among the VONS members sent
to jail, fifty-two year old journalist Otka Bednarova, remains cheerful
and optimistic despite her bad health. She has gallbladder problems,
and during her last visit she mentioned swelling of her legs and painful
swelling of the lymphatic glands:
I don't cling
to
anything, I don't build on anything, I regard nothing
as definitive; in this way I can live more easily, and I feel invulner–
able. I am very calm and I find nothing very difficult; in fact, I am
trying to help others to get into a better mood when they need it. I am
also calm because of you and all our good friends, because I know
that you are all thinking of me. I feel your participation even across
this distance and therefore I feel undefeatable.... As you know, it is
quite complicated for me. After all, 1 had an invalid pension and
did
only administrative work. Now I have to wear glasses the whole day,
although I am not doing very detailed work. There isn't much light.
In short, without glasses I can't see closeup. That's why I don't read
in my free time, and maybe it's good that I have not been given my
English textbook yet. I don't do anything which might strain my
eyes.... As you know , I am incapable of slipshod work. I therefore
think that, if my health allows, I shall not have any problems, but
this I shall see later. At the moment, I must admit that I am extremely
tired, but nothing can be done about it. ... I do not have anything
here with which
to
make even a cup of tea, so I don't know what will
happen to my gallbladder.
It
longs for liquid but at the moment I
don 't even have anything to boil or cook, so there's no point in trying
to find something to boil it
011.·
III health seems to be common to many political prisoners. Dr.
Jaroslav Sabata, Charter 77 spokesman, and Petr Uhl's father-in-law ,
already has had two heart attacks and has a tumor on the pancreas. By
December 1980, when he is due to be released, he will have served a
total of seven and a half years for his political activities in the seventies
and he is now imprisoned in an isolation cell at Litomerice prison.
Rules are very strict, and for a time he had to share a cell with a
·Otka Bedna1'ova is in a prison in Opava, and her family believes that she operates a
sewing machine.
