Don’t tell me what you did yesterday, show me what you can do today, and don’t forget to convince me tomorrow again
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Oldřich Novotný was born on June 4, 1938 in Hradec Králové. During the war, he spent his childhood partly in Bítouchov near Bakov nad Jizerou. His father Oldřich Novotný senior was a self-employed workman, he owned an engraving workshop. He was arrested in August 1949 after making fake stamps for supposed emigrants. In the show trial of Maděra and associates in the summer of 1950, he was sentenced for complicity in the crime of high treason to 18 years in prison. Oldřich’s mother and two sons were deprived of all their property and housing. During his father’s imprisonment, the witness rarely saw him. In addition to family housing and finance difficulties, he also had problems with admission to studies, he had to go to a vocational school first. Only later could he graduate from a secondary technical school in Jablonec nad Nisou. His father returned from prison after being released under the amnesty in 1960, just as Oldřich was taking his secondary school-leaving exams. After completing compulsory military service, he began studying at the Faculty of Education in Olomouc, from which he graduated in 1967. In August 1968, he witnessed the events of the Soviet occupation in Prague. In November 1989, he took part in demonstrations. He worked as a teacher at a vocational school in Prague.
