Do not intentionally harm anyone and make people happy
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Antonín Kyncl was born on the 2nd of July 1928 in the town of Svratka, in the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands. His father was a clockmaker, his mother ran a shop. He attended the elementary and higher elementary schools in his hometown, later continuing his education at a business academy in Chrudim from which he graduated with honours in 1946. He was accepted to the Commercial College (a predecessor of today’s University of Economics). He attended lectures held by economists such as Karl Engliš or Josef Macek. He was a member of the Sokol movement and the Czechoslovakian National Socialist party. Antonín’s plans to become a diplomat were unfortunately made impossible by the Communist coup d’état in February 1948. Being opposed to the regime, he was expelled from the student dormitories but thanks to his excellent grades he still managed to graduate. After that he worked at Ústředí pro hospodaření se zemědělskými výrobky (“Centrale for the Management of Agricultural Products”) which was later transformed into the ministry of agriculture. In 1951 he started his mandatory military service with the Fourth Armoured Division in Tábor. Following his military service he married Danuše Šantrůčková and continued working at the ministry of food industry, witnessing the 1956 events in Hungary during this time. Since he openly supported the rebels and Imre Nagy’s reformation movement he was forced to quit his job at the ministry and was employed in a biscuit factory in Prague-Hrdlořezy. Only during the 1960s was he able to get a planning position at the headquarters of Továrny strojírenské techniky (“Engineering Technology Plants”) where he worked his way up to being one of the top experts on exporting machine tools abroad. Thanks to his expertise he was able to travel abroad both to the countries of the Eastern Bloc and western countries for business purposes despite not being a member of the Party. During the 1989 Velvet Revolution he co-founded the local branch of the Civic Forum in his workplace and shortly afterwards he was elected by the Civic Forum representatives as the first non-communist director of the company. He held this position until his retirement in 2000. During the 1990s he helped adapt Czech mechanical engineering to the new market economy conditions and integrate it into structures surrounding European Union authorities. Antonín Kyncl is a widower and has lived in Prague-Krč since 1959. He has a daughter and two grandchildren. He enjoys gardening, following social and political events, history, and reading.
