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In the example of Mrs. Zabloudilová and other colleagues for whom the revolution provided the chance to elicit changes in the school, we again see incidents of those who were up until that point the conforming part of the population. People, who quietly respected the situation at hand during communism, suddenly began to actively come out against the regime. But then they pointed fingers at those who were up until that point fellow travelers on a single boat. The revolution divided the people with a sharp knife. After these tempests in relations, the situation settled down. Mr. Hájek won the competition for the post of principal. During the interviews he said that “someone” had requested that he enter the competition. This aspect is interesting – none of the three principals of the school who provided an interview admitted wanting to be principal. They had all seen themselves as having heard somebody’s call and succumbed to a certain social pressure. What’s more, a number of teachers had repeated another interesting observation that the revolution had occurred all over the district of Lán similarly to how it had happened at Chestnut School. At seven of the eight schools, men had taken over the position of principal and all were gym teachers. Mrs. Veberová added with a laugh that the revolution had taken place in pubs and only men had access to it there because the women were taking care of the kids. Still another aspect is apparent from the testimonies of some of the teachers affected by 1989. All agreed that the principal’s political affiliation had nothing to do with whether the communist leadership welcomed the changes or not. Mrs. Krečmerová, a teacher, recalls that at Beechwood School the revolution took place with great euphoria. Everyone, including the former communist principal, welcomed the changes in unison. This could explain what the teachers were talking about regarding the transferring of teachers to various schools, that those less politically reliable were sent to smaller towns and villages (this appeared in the testimony of Mrs. Rezková who was nearly transferred to Brook School. This would have of course meant that the smaller the school and town, the lower the “political reliability” toward the communist regime. This hypothesis would need to be verified by further research. Yet according to the respondents, the leadership at Chestnut was mistaken in their view of which way things were going, and in the decisive weeks opted for cautious loyalty to the regime. This came back to haunt them after the revolution had played out.
Ukázka elektronické knihy, UID: KOS276421