František Kadlec

photo: Archiv pamětníka
Download image

František Kadlec was born on the 22th February of 1963 in Chrudim. As a small boy, he would often hear stories about his grandfather František Kadlec who had participated in the anti-Nazi resistance and had died two days before the end of the war in Terezín. When he attended basic school, he started wearing his hair long and became interested in public matters. When he attended trade school in Pardubice, his schoolmates introduced him to the underground community. After he graduated from the trade school, he started to work in the Tesla electrical company in Pardubice. He spent his compulsory army service as a signaller in the military unit at Svatý Tomáš at the Austrian border. The first major counter-regime demonstration in which he participated was on the 21th August of 1988. He was arrested and held in police custody for four days. He was released only with a reprimand but even this experience did not deter him from participating in other protests. After the 17th November 1989 and the news about the massacre of demonstrating students, he was one of the organisers of the first protests in Chrudim. The first meeting was attended only by a handful of people and František Kadlec read the declaration from the students who were on a strike. He was one of the founders of the Civic Forum in Chrudim but about a week later, he withdrew from public activities. Since the 1990’, he’s been organising a music festival in Chrudim and he still organises the legendary Underground Football Cup.