A family business is a hard work for future generations
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Jan Petrof was born on the 10th of May in 1940 in Hradec Králové. His father worked in the Petrof family company [which builds pianos] and his mother’s maiden name was Libánská. Her father was the director of the Hradec Králové branch of the Czech Industrial Bank. The Petrof company history started in 1864. Jan’s grandfather Libánský died in 1939 in a crash with a German army column. The family company was nationalised by the Communists in 1948 and nobody from the Petrof family was allowed to enter the factory premises. Jan Petrof had hard time to be allowed to enroll at a secondary school. His father worked as a ditch digger at various construction sites and his mother was a cleaner at the public toilets at the Hradec Králové train station. In 1959, President Antonín Novotný announced a campaign whose aim was to annihilate the antagonist classes, suspicious elements and class enemies, namely the bourgeoisie, traders and small business owners. Jan Petrof’s parents were not touched by this as they already worked in low ranking jobs anyway. However, five persons from the extended family ended up in prison. Jan’s great-uncle Antonín died in prison of active tuberculosis after two years. The Communists confiscated all the valuables as well. Jan Petrof suffered many an indignity at school and later. He worked in the Lesostavby construction company and later, hewas allowed to study at the Prague University of Economics and Business. After the 1989 revolution, Jan Petrof, as the oldest from the family, negotiated the complicated process of restitution and privatisation of the family business which eventually returned to the family. The company went through several rough periods when they had to cut production during the crisis after 2001. Currently, the Petrof family company is on the rise again. In 2004, Jan handed the company over to his eldest daughter. In 2008, he was awarded the Medal of Merit by President Václav Klaus.
