This photograph, as well as the following one, is proof of our foolishness.
It shows a Workers' Day celebration, 1st May, it was always a big masquerade. We would go, we'd always count whether the monkeys up on the tribunal were still all there, and then we'd go home again.
One could talk about some sort of enthusiasm maybe at the beginning of the 1950s up until the congress.
With the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and with it the revelation of Stalin's crimes, all enthusiasm ended. By then we were dissidents.
The last time I took part in 1st May celebrations was in 1968.
In the photograph I'm with my colleagues from the Military Historical Institute.
Back then you went to the parade with your colleagues from work, my wife went with a group of workers from the Academy of Sciences.
My granddaughter asks me: Grandpa, you also supported those murderers? So I can show her this photograph and say: Yes, I was also there.
I also used to go wave to our comrades, Kopecky, Gottwald, Zapotocky, Cepicka and others. We played the clown for murderers. So it's difficult for me to talk about some sort of collective German responsibility.
