My life has sometimes been determined by coincidences
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Jiří Havlíček was born in Olomouc on 8 August 1936 to parents Anděla, née Čechová, and Emanuel Havlíček. The parents were teachers, they met in the border region in Mlýnický Dvůr near Štíty where they taught at a minority one-room school. The father was mobilised in 1938, the mother had to flee inland with little Jiří in the aftermath of the Munich Agreement in September 1938. They found asylum with mother’s parents in Olomouc where Jiří’s younger sister was born. The father came from Vojice, a proud stonemasons’ village in the Krkonoše promontory, and was a great patriot. The family spent the war in Nelešovice where Jiří witnessed local war events and the liberation. In 1946 the family moved to Králec (part of Dolní Studénky), with the father workign as a teacher at a one-room school and the mother in the kindergarten in the same building. Due to her religious convictions, she was only allowed to stay in the school after 1948 as a janitor. Jiří graduated from the grammar school in Šumperk, which became SVVŠ during the school reforms. He graduated in 1954. In 1954 to 1959 he completed the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague. He joined the Material Centre of the Aviation Research Institute in Prague-Letňany. He witnessed the rise of the ‘small-format theatres’ in Prague, going to Reduta and Semafor. In 1967, he became a member of the Kindred Spirits Club (later Jonáš Club). In 1964, he married Hana Kostřicová, a secretary of the sports union in Šumperk, an enthusiastic hiker and orienteering coach, who later worked in a savings bank. They raised two sons, Jan (1965) and Tomáš (1968). They settled in Šumperk where Jiří worked at Pramet. Son Jan joined the dissent, took part in disseminating the samizdat, joined the Independent Peace Corps and became one of the key figures of the Velvet Revolution in Šumperk. Tomáš was a member of the Salesians and went to the cottage holidays. Jiří Havlíček was living in Šumperk in 2024.
