Ivan Klíma - Judge On Trial

‘A week at most,’ she replied. ‘Don’t forget, I’ve got children to look after.’

‘Are you teaching still?’

‘What other option do I have?’ And she added, ‘They’ve decided to leave people like me alone, now.’

‘Yes, so I’ve noticed.’

‘They’re giving Jaroslav the push instead.’

‘That’s your husband, is it?’

The streets were now deserted but the traffic lights went on working busily.

‘Adam’, she said, ‘it’s totally illegal what they’re doing to him. I don’t want to bother you, but it just struck me that you might be able to give us some advice, at least.’

They drew up in front of an apartment house in a drab backstreet. He listened to her as she told him how they were throwing her husband out of the school where he had taught for ten years. (No, it wasn’t in The Hole, but in some small town in Moravia.)

He took down the details in his notebook and promised to do what he could. The fact was, though, that he had really no idea what he could do for a teacher of maths and physics who had been turfed out of his job for signing the very same declaration that every Tom, Dick and Harry had signed four years ago. What could he do for him, seeing that he had signed it himself, particularly as he no longer wielded the slightest power or influence.

3

I was born in Prague on 23rd February 1938 but my mother Marie Kotvová now domiciled in Turnov at No.215/36 Pod kopcem didn’t want to keep me so I was handed straight over to my father Karel Kozlík now deceased and my grandmother Aloisie who looked after me until she was executed which happened when I was four years old on account of she listened to foreign radio broadcasts and agreed with the assassination of Heydrich. When I was eight years old my father married Milena née Bradová now domiciled at No. 814/5 Kašparová Street, Prague 3, who was always a good mother and friend to me and I always did my best to help her on account of she was sickly and she had bad back trouble particularly after my youngest brother was born. Later I had to look after my brothers too and because my father often came home drunk I used to have to protect them from same. At that time I had to have an eye operation as a result of which due to a slip-up which the head surgeon himself said happens only once in a hundred years I have only had the sight of one eye, namely, the left one. When I finished school my stepmother wanted me to go on to the tech but my father said I couldn’t study with one eye, but I might just about cope as an electrician as a consequence of which I was apprenticed right off to a bloke who used to make fun of me sometimes calling me Jan Žižka from Žižkov and other times Babinský because he said I’ve got criminal’s ears. On account of he never left off I lost my head one day and hit him with a spanner and that was the end of that. It was that time I started getting headaches, but the doctors thought it was due to the bad operation and offered to do it all over again but I said no because I was afraid I’d end up completely blind. On account of my bad record it took me a long time to find a job even though I was no shirker. In the end I got a job as a navvy and I moved in with my girlfriend Jarmila Studená now living in Modfany at No. 168/4 Nad roklí even though she was older than me. Soon afterwards at the Valdek Café where I had gone for the purpose of dancing some man of gypsy origin that I didn’t know before then came up to me just when Jarmila was dancing with my friend František Vrána and said she was rubbing up against him like a whore. In those days I was sure that Jarmila was a decent girl and that was a slur on her character and an attack on my honour so I told him to step outside into the alley where we had a fight. It was my opinion that any honourable man would have done the same in my place but the court sentenced me to borstal training which I served near Uherské Hradiště. When I came back home I tried to settle down to live the life of a decent working man. I was back at my mother’s who suffered a lot then on account of my father who was an alcoholic and consequently she begged me to steer clear of any rows or fights. When I had been unable to find a suitable job after about three months the doctor said I should avoid heavy work and dust in case I lost my last remaining eye so in the end I got a job as a forklift operator in a cement works.

At that time I was visited by one of my old friends from borstal Jiří Probst currently serving a sentence and we started going to the pub together and on Saturdays we used to go off to the country with a guitar. Then one day Probst told me he knew of a weekend cottage where there were a lot of things like old clocks statues and a lot of liquor but I got angry and said no and he started making fun of me. So I went off with him after all even though in my view I didn’t take part in any breaking and entering or robbery. I waited outside for him but I was given four years without the option. I tried to behave myself in prison but when I was working in the pits I started having trouble with my good eye but the doctor said I was shamming so I often got sent to the punishment cell when I got headaches. When I almost went blind which I didn’t report as a protest against my treatment a fellow-prisoner in my cell whose name I don’t recall started to teach me philosophy and English and he explained to me that real strength is doing good against hatred and misunderstanding. I decided to do good and work with youngsters after my release to help them find the right way. At that time my health improved and I started to see with my left eye again and my headaches were improving. On account of my father had died and my mother had got married again while I was still in prison to a Mr Emanuel Kobza a lorry driver of the same address who had a bad influence on her I had to find lodgings after my release so as to avoid rows. For that purpose I went to see my former common-law wife Jarmila Studená who took me in and seven months later she had a little girl and said I was the father. From the testimony of the doctor and my friends I ascertained this was not the case. I found digs with a Mrs Obensdorfová domiciled at No. 886/14 Mladenovicova Street, Prague 3 and got a job as a boilerman at Krč Hospital. I paid my maintenance payments for my daughter regularly and sometimes I would send her presents like a dolly or a ball and kept up my payments for my accommodation while in prison. At that time I got to know Libuše Körnerová domiciled at Za pivovarem 19/1, Prague 4, who informed me she was expecting my baby. I therefore settled down to live the life of a decent working man. I also made regular visits to my mother and my brothers and used to urge them to steer clear of bad company. I treated my landlady decently which wasn’t easy due to her domineering nature. I used to carry her up coal because our flat was on the top floor and I used to carry her shopping bags and help her wash the floor and I painted her hall and kitchen for nothing and mended the water and cooker and in return she upped my rent so instead of the 150 crowns I was paying at the start in the end I was paying 220, even though she paid only 90 crowns rent for the whole flat. Also she accused me of taking something from the pantry and the larder even though I had stolen nothing since the day I was released. Every time I put the light on in the evening she accused me of blowing all the rent money even though I had only a 40W bulb. Then she took out the fuses on account of which I was obliged to use a candle and sometimes I would stop seeing altogether because I strained my eyes trying to read a lot. Furthermore she banned me from bringing friends back to my room and demanded that I had to be home by nine because she said that was the time she went to bed and I would disturb her which had no basis in fact as I used to be very quiet when I came home.