They Knew How to Break Anyone

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A week before the diploma thesis defense, on May 19, 1952, Jaroslav Řihák was arrested for his connection to the activities in Catholic youth. Suddenly he was taken to the Stb (State Security) prison on Příční Street in Brno where he was interrogated for several times. At first the investigator treated him indecently unnatural. “The officer behaved like he was my long-time friend. He was very kind and obliging.” But Jaroslav Řihák remembers that when he refused to sign the false report, the situation changed very quickly and the investigator started to threaten him. “Two men ran in with upturned sleeves. They were laughing at the whole round. I just turned and saw them. They were arguing about who would be the first one to punch me. I was scared, and I think I was shaking because the officer sent them back and told me I'd change my mind eventually.” After that Jaroslav Řihák was placed in a solitary confinement and was given the minimal rations of food. Full of concerns, he was lying on straw in a wet basement dungeon. “He had to sleep with his arms raised forward and he still lies this way.” The wardens woke him up regularly, and he had to report his prison number standing at attention. “It lasted three days, and then they broke me. I did not sleep for three days. I did not almost eat. I was completely mentally knackered and decided to sign everything he wants.”

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Jaroslav Řihák

Ing. Jaroslav Řihák was born in 1927 in Těšánky, near Kroměříž. Already as a child he was technically apt, and so after secondary technical school, he started studying at the University of Electrical Engineering in Brno. After February 1948 however, he was expelled from the school by its action committee. Thanks to his technical abilities and due to the intercession of the chairman of the Party organisation of the company he worked at, he returned to university. After graduating, he took part in meetings of the Catholic youth, and he kept in touch with several priests. On the 19th of May 1952, one week before the defense of his diploma thesis, he was arrested. Over the course of a few days in Prague, from the 28th of October till the 1st of November 1952, he was sentenced to 9 years of prison - part of one of the biggest "monster trials" against the Church, called Bárta and Co. During the trial, 9 priests and 22 lay persons were sentenced to a total of 330 years of prison. ThDr. Josef Zvěřina was among them. Jaroslav Řihák spent more than three and a half years in prisons in Vinařice near Kladno and in Rtyně v Podkrkonoší [on the foothills of the Giant Mountains - transl.]. He worked in mines in very harsh conditions and with a minimum of food. He witnessed several fatal accidents of his fellow inmates. He was released on probation in the spring of 1956. After that, he never did find a job worthy of his abilities. He worked as an electrician at a sugar refinery, and at Pal-Magneton in Kroměříž. He was rehabilitated in 1990 and in the same year, after passing a state final exam, he was at last awarded the title Master of Engineering [literally "Engineer" - transl.].

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Brno, KV prison of the State security (StB)

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From 1948 until 1951, the building housed the regional headquarters of the StB. Since 1948, it also served as the prison of the StB with a capacity of 29 prisoners in 25 cells. In November 1952, the prison was shut down, and in June 1954 replaced by a pre-trial custody. The cells were located in the basement and throughout the existence of the prison, dozens of political prisoners were incarcerated here. Today the building houses the police department responsible for arms and police-forces equipment. A commemorative plaque has been placed on the building with the inscription: "To the political prisoners of the years 1948-1989".