Daniel Satra - the symbolism of ice hockey for an émigré baby

Next year the Czech Republic will be hosting the ice hockey world championships, and I hardly need remind you that ice hockey is a national institution here. The moment remembered in this week's Witness reflects the symbolism of the sport to many Czechs, both at home and abroad. Daniel Satra, who recently finished studying sociology at the University of Göttingen, was born into a Czech family that had emigrated to Germany after the Soviet invasion of 1968. Here he remembers the first time, as a small child in the 1970s, that he became aware of his family's Czech identity.

Daniel Satra - the symbolism of ice hockey for an émigré baby

Daniel Satra

"One of my first really strong emotions being a child of Czech emigrants in Germany was the world championships in ice hockey. I don't remember what time that was exactly, I just remember that I was a baby, sitting - or rather lying - in front of the television, and my mum at once began to cry out and jump on the sofa, and even neighbours came over to ask if everything is fine with us.

It was ice hockey, a game between Czechoslovakia and the Russians. The Russians were the bad guys, to put it in a nutshell they were the guys who'd forced my parents to leave their country, their home, and they couldn't get back till 1989 or 1990. So every goal the Czechs scored and every game they won, there was a big party on the sofa in our living room. So that was my first Czech experience in Germany.

I think I got a bit confused as a little baby and sometimes started to cry, but later on I got the point. It was not about hating someone, hating the Russians, but it was a strong emotional feeling for my parents, that this little country, Czechoslovakia, could be in opposition to this big Russian country, and this via ice hockey. So that's it."