Štěpán Kohout

* 1969

The Student activist during the Velvet revolution in Czechoslovakia
1989 - The fall of the iron curtain, 17. 11. - 29. 12. 1989 - The Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia
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    Demostration in Olomouc streets

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    “I took part in everything. There was always a speaker, who talked and we applauded to him. But I cannot say that anyone actually stuck in my memory more than others, to talk from our hearts. After the general strike I said to myself, that it all got broken, an important step was calling off the Constitution article regarding the leading role of the communist party, well and definitely it went the right path for me, when Havel got elected our president.”

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    Lost money during revolution

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    “Sometimes I was even ashamed to see how people were willing and not always their gifts were used correctly. There were thefts and embezzlements. Following the revolution there was the new Students union and the losses were counted too. There was a lot of it, even hundreds thousands of crowns.”

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    Activities during the revolution

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    “I was never too much of a fighter to go ahead, so I was glad to have a safe place in a printing department. We used to read newspapers, prepared information excerpts, quotes. Then we also prepared various leaflets and posted them all around the town. Apart from that we used to write various protest letters to the editors. Here was a regional paper called the People´s guard, and the folks nicknamed it the Fear of people.“

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    Zemský archiv Olomouc, kancelář Štěpána Kohouta, 30.03.2017

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    duration: 57:42
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Confession of faith

Štěpán Kohout Štěpána Kohouta
Štěpán Kohout Štěpána Kohouta
photo: archiv Štěpána Kohouta
photo: archiv Štěpána Kohouta
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Štěpán Kohout was born on 14 June, 1969 in Jihlava in a family of agricultural engineers. In 1973 the family moved to Rožnov pod Radhoštěm. Here the witness graduated at the local gymnasium. At the Palacký university in Olomouc he finished a two field study of history and archiving finished by a semester stay at the university in German Gießen (1993). In November and December 1989 he actively participated at students strike movement. Since 1994 he is an archivist in the Olomouc branch of the Regional archive Opava. His publication activity deals with issues regarding entrusted archive funds; hand-written libraries of Olomouc chapter and the inheritance of members of Catholic Modern. His hobbies mainly include classical music and history.

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Photos (2)
  • Štěpán Kohout Štěpána Kohouta
    Štěpán Kohout Štěpána Kohouta
    photo: archiv Štěpána Kohouta
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  • Štěpán Kohout
    Štěpán Kohout
    photo: archiv Štěpána Kohouta
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