Never let yourselves be discouraged and fulfil your life goal
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František Brabenec was born on October 10, 1949 in Pilsen. After the February coup the communists first confiscated two fashion shops and leather goods stores from the family. The father, Frantisek Brabenec, had to take up a worker’s job. In 1953 the unrest against monetary reform in Pilsen served as a pretext for further persecution of the family. Dad spent a month in custody and the authorities planned to move his family away to Broumov. Eventually a mitigation of the penalty was negotiated. František’s mother, Milada Brabencová, née Fuchsová, had a child paralysis in 1952. She was moving only with difficulty and suffered the consequences of the disease until her death. She had to leave the flat with her son. They lived in a block of flats built by František’s grandfather, in a small apartment with two rooms together with grandparents and one tenant. Dad was banned to stay in Pilsen for about a year and commuted to work and to his family from Březina near Rokycany. František graduated at the Secondary General School of Julius Fučík at the Odborářů Square, today’s Nicholas Square. He did not finished studying medicine, supplemented his education with an economic course, and in 1971 he joined the State Bank of Czechoslovakia. After three years he moved to Stavoprojekt, a building company in the city of Pilsen. He was in charge of supplying construction activities, which was not easy in the 1970s and 1980s as there was general material shortage. Success stood in endurance, acquaintances, and “little gifts”. He did not want to join the communist party, so he could not work at the leadership positions. František liked to travel with his parents and also later with his wife and two sons. Most often they travelled to relatives in West Germany or Yugoslavia. He remembers the complications of crossing the border, which appear incredible from today´s perspective. The fall of the regime was welcomed with enthusiasm and with respect and admiration to the president, Václav Havel. Following the liquidation of the construction company in 1992, he set up a small confectionery shop in the Republic Square in Pilsen.
