Signing the “anti-charter” was a mass display of fear
Download image
Petr Oslzlý was born on 26 April 1945 in Konice near Prostějov. His father Albert owned a fur-processing factory, which was later confiscated by the communists. What is more, he fas forced to compensate for machines destroyed in the process of their expropriation, despite attempting to prevent any damage. This was one of the reasons of Petr’s distaste of the communist regime since his yearly years. Moreover, the Communist Party Regional Committee decided he would not be admitted to any high school in the country. He trained to become a metal modeler in the Sigma Lutín factory. Having good grades, in 1962 he received a recommendation to study at a higher engineering school. After graduation, he was admitted to the Theatre Faculty in Prague but soon thereafter, the authorities ordered for him to be expelled. In 1968, he managed to get to the Faculty of Philosophy in Brno. In 1973, he graduated from theater science and art history. Ever since 1972, he worked as literary manager in the Husa na provázku theater, later becoming its art director. In 1977, all the members of the theater refused to sign the so-called anti-charter, which condemned Charter 77 declaration. There was an imminent risk of the ensemble’s dissolution but in the end, Petr Oslzlý managed to negotiate its survival. He was in contact with the dissidents. In 1989, he co-organized a nation-wide strike and co-founded the Civic Forum, and then served as an advisor to president Václav Havel. He served as a director of the Center of Fringe Theatre in Brno. In 2017, he was elected rector of the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno. He also worked as an actor and published extensively on theater and arts.
