Jiří Kopřiva

Mr. Jiří Kopřiva participated as a student of the State Gymnasium in Litomyšl town on the student sabotage of the labor union strike on February 24th 1948.During the years 1948 and 1949 he was meeting his anti communist friend named Miroslav Matějka - a son of a farmer. They often met at the Restaurant Na Hrádku, where they discussed the possibilities of the anti regime protest. Their chance occurred in spring of 1949 when their Gymnasium class mate named Míla Kohout produced a leaflet entitled Colleagues. He was complaining about the politics of the Czechoslovak Youth organization and criticized the pressure against the Scouting organization Junák. Mr. Kopřiva has joined this activity and attended few meetings. The student group, named Hvězda (Star), was unfortunately broken very soon. It happened rather by coincidence, after one unrelated event in June of 1949. Two Technical school students ripped the pictures of the President Gottwald and the Soviet president J. V. Stalin hanging in the State Gymnasium. As the authorities began with the investigation they also found out about the student anti-political activity. The author of the leaflet has been arrested and questioned. His friends and class mates have been questioned subsequently by the StB agents (StB - former State secret communist police) during the years 1949 and 1950. Mr. Jiří Kopřiva who´s meetings and conversation contents have been disclosed by his friend, was investigated at large at this point. In the meantime the StB managed to concoct extremely complex political process. The man number one in this process was named to be the chancellor of the Piarist campus of the Gymnasium in Litomyšl town, master Mr. František Ambrož Stříteský. Between October 9th and 11th 1950 twenty five people (9 students among these) have been sentenced to many years in jail. Mr. Jiří Kopřiva has been sentenced for treason to two years in prison. He served the whole time in Zámrsk Youth correctional center.

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