• In 1963 my father was granted permission to travel abroad. He visited Belgium, the Netherlands and France. At the time his younger brother didn’t know if he would return, but he did, to finish his veterinary studies. And he didn’t want to break his mother’s heart. She died the following year of breast cancer.
• After the Warsaw Pact invasion, on the 21st of August 1968, over 300,000 Czechoslovakians would leave during a relaxed 13 month window. Many escaped without proper documentation – on foot, through tunnels, swimming across channels, or by other creative means. Some paid with their lives.
• For most of my life I described the event as “escaping”, but that wasn’t the case. We legally crossed Eastern and Western borders with proper documentation. The basis of our travel was vacation, but we simply didn’t return. The act of Unauthorized Emigration, i.e. “failure to return”, was a crime. My parents and others that did not return within the approved timetable were considered political criminals. They were subsequently “convicted in absentia” and would have been jailed if they returned to Czechoslovakia. On the 22nd of August 1969 a new, so-called “Truncheon Law” was approved and signed in secrecy. It was not publicized at the time. But a renewed grip on travel restrictions meant that the borders were essentially closed. My family learned of the new travel restrictions when they arrived in Paris on the 5th of September 1969. In hindsight it was fateful timing. That day we also celebrated my father’s 27th birthday.
• Dusil
If you missed the previous posts on Dusil, then click on these links:
- 6 • Dusil • Cezar
- 15 • Dusil
- 23 • Dusil • Emigration
- 26 • Dusil • Brothers
- 29 • Dusil • Christmas
- 31 • Dusil
- 34 • Dusil • Inchy
- 36 • Dusil • Pets
- 37 • Dusil • Brothers
- 42 • Dusil • Immigration
• Digital Photo Restoration
• 2 minutes 53 seconds
• 4 minutes 7 seconds
• This photo was taken in Košice in the garden of the house where the Dusil’s lived. The house is still standing today, across from the main police station on Moyzesova street, but has since been converted to offices.
• Anna Collakova stayed with the Dusil’s when she attended high school in Košice. She was from Stankovce, a village around 25km east of Košice.
• My uncle did his military service from Aug 1961 to Aug 1963 in Opava together with Sano Drabcak, another judoka from Košice. The other two soldiers just happened to walk by, so they have not been identified.
• 8 minutes 12 seconds
• This photo was taken in front of “Dom umenia, Centrá kultúry” situated beside the Dusil family residence. That day my dad came to Košice from Brno where he studied veterinary medicine for one year. It was an emergency visit because his mother had terminal cancer. One breast was removed in February of 1964, but her cancer had metastasized to her entire body. She died on the 24th of October, 1964.
• The Dusil brothers, with their mom visiting their father in Plzeň-Bory, while also competing in a judo event.
• Tags
Andrej Collak, Anna Collakova, Attila Kende, Csaba Kende, Darina Poprenakova, Digital Restoration, Dusil Family, dusil.com, Edo Novak, Erika Dusil, Eva Dusil, Gabriel Dusil, Ivan Spisak, Iveta Kende, Juraj Bialko, Karol Dusil, Kende Family, Ladislav Kende, Maria Collakova-Korytkova, Maria Dusilova, Michal Jr, Michal Korytko, Nyarjas, Orendas, Pepo Vesecky, Robert Dusil, Robert Dusil sr., Slavo Sykorsky, Stefan Kende, Vaclav Dusil, Valeria Kendeova, Vera Kendeova
Gabriel Dusil • Time Is Relentless 