EDITH KURZWEIL
An Interview with Eda Kriseova
Edith Kurzweil: I' m g lad to ha ve finall y caught up with you . [ would
lik e yo u to te ll me wha t you think has ch anged since the last time [ was
here in Prague, abo ut ten yea rs ago . I see many superficia l cha nges in
thi s fa ntas ti c city. But I have a lso been reading a bout the vo la til e polit–
ica l situa ti o n. Wh a t ha ppened in the most recent electi o n?
Eda Kriseova: I' m not a politicia n, and I'm not all th a t interested in pol–
iti cs . l ca n o nl y give yo u a brief summar y of m y impress io ns. I'm a
w riter, a nd I' m o bserving . I'm as engaged as a ny oth er no rma l citi zen .
Kurzweil: But you were ve ry much engaged when yo u were in the gov–
ernment w ith Vacl av Havel.
Kriseova: Yes, [ was. But I was n't rea ll y in the government; [ was in th e
pres identi a l o ffi ce, whi ch is different. There is the gove rnment, and
th ere is th e pres ident. When H ave l was elected Pres ident, in December
1989,
he as ked some of hi s colleagues from the oppos ition, wh o, as you
kn ow, had been orga ni zing thi s Velvet Revolution , to wo rk with him
a nd help impl ement o ur pla ns. [ co uldn 't say no. I mea n, when a very
good fri end as ks you fo r help, wha t ca n you do ? So
J
became an ad vi–
so r. T hen 1 became Director o f th e Depa rtment o f Compl a ints and
Amnesti es, whi ch was ve ry diffi cult wo rk . At tha t time, the communi st
instituti o ns were no t functi o ning. There was no legisla ti ve impact,
beca use you couldn 't use the o ld laws, and there were no t ye t new laws.
Peopl e we re waiting fo r fo rty o r fift y yea rs, because you ha ve to count
th e wa r, fo r some so rt of justi ce . We made some progress, but it was
ve ry slow.
Kurzweil: So yo u o ffi cia ll y too k ca re o f complaints?
Kri seova: Well , almost eve rybod y trusted this new pres ident. People
ended up as king him to stra ighten o ut th eir persona l situ a ti o ns, to
cha nge th eir li ves and ma ke up fo r their mi sfortun es .
