A political bankruptee
PhDr. Michal Čakrt was born in October 1948 in Havlíčkův Brod. His mother Gertruda Sekaninová-Čakrtová (1908-1986) was a communist politician and diplomat who became a Charter 77 signatory and a dissident in the 1970s. In 1948-1957 she worked as the deputy of the minister of foreign affairs. His father was interrogated for involvement in espionage, and he committed suicide when he could not bear the accusations. In 1957 Michal’s mother was transferred to the ministry of education where she then kept working until 1969 when she retired after a political screening. After graduation from secondary school in July 1968 Michal went to the United States of America where he received a scholarship and after a one-year study he returned to Czechoslovakia in summer 1969. In 1969-1976 he studied sociology and political economy at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague. In 1976-1977 he did his basic military training. His mother signed the declaration of Charter 77 in January 1977 and she became actively involved in the work of the dissent. Thanks to his mother, Michal was exposed to both the dissent and the underground movement and he anonymously contributed to several samizdat publications with his sociological studies. Michal Čakrt’s professional specialization was the sociology of housing and later he focused on work management. Until 1983 he worked in the Research Institute of Transport Engineering, and from 1983 onward in the Research Institute of Engineering Technology and Economics. After 1989 he established a consulting company, and he still engages in consulting services and management.