They told me I didn’t have what it takes to study
Download image
Bohuslav Jirásek was born on 2 June 1937 in Prague. Two years later the family moved to Heřmanův Městec. Bohuslav’s father set up his own workshop and bicycle shop there. In August 1944 Bohuslav witnessed the air raid on Pardubice. Shortly after the communist coup in June 1948, he took part in the XIth Sokol Meeting. At the turn of the 1940s and 1950s Bohuslav experienced a house search by State Security. Because of his father’s trade and his membership in the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party, Bohuslav was not allowed to study at secondary school. In 1956, he trained as an electrician and started his military service. He spent most of the training in Terezín. After finishing the service, he started working in the electrical section of Czechoslovak Railways. In 1962 he became a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ). The reason was the possibility of his further education at a secondary technical school and a more certain future for his children. During the Prague Spring he signed the declaration Two Thousand Words. In 1970, he was expelled from the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia because of his opposition to the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops. He lived through normalisation without much difficulty. During the Velvet Revolution he took part in demonstrations in Prague. Bohuslav Jirásek died on 5 August 2022.
