In 1938 we fled Slovakia from the Hungarians
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Antonín Rejlek was born on the 23rd of February 1932 in Kráľová pri Senci. His father Antonín worked as an agricultural engineer in Slovakia. His mother Božena took care of the household, little Antonín and his older brother Josef, born in 1930. She also took care of the religious education of her children. In 1938, the family fled to Bohemia from the raising presence of Nazism. First they fled to one grandmother, then to another. Because of moving so many times, in just one year Antonín was enrolled in primary school three times, each time in a different place. In 1939, they settled in Vysoké Mýto, where his father was made head of the agricultural department of the district. Thanks to this position, he could help supply partisans during the war. In 1943, Antonín started going to the grammar school in Vysoké Mýto and his everyday life during the war was shaped by his school being closed, by having to commute to the theater to pick up homework and by having to serve as minister at church services for German soldiers every day. After the war in 1946, he joined the newly founded Scouts movement that priest Slavík had founded at the local rectory. Although he could only to take part in three Scout summer camps, they left experiences, perceptions and ideals that accompanied him for the rest of his life. After February 1948, they fired his father from his position for political reasons. Antonín graduated from his grammar school in 1951, but did not receive a recommendation to study at university. So he went to work at the Research Institute of Organic Synthesis in Rybitví (VÚOS) and began his studies at the University of Chemistry in Bratislava in 1952. After two years, he moved to Prague, where in 1956 he attended the Majáles (May Day). The day celebratiing student life had a bold anti-regime atmosphere and the annual parade was led by a figure representing “Academic Freedom” tied up in ropes. After the event, members of the State Security (StB) invited Antonín Rejlek, alongside many other students, for interrogation. When he graduated in 1957, he returned to work at VÚOS Rybitví. As part of his position, he went on several business trips to the Soviet Union. In 1961, he married Bohumila Tuháčková (1940–1996), and in 1963 the couple had a daughter. After the death of his first wife, he married a second time in 1997, Věra Novotná (1935–2019). When he retired he devoted his life to charity work and lived in Pardubice in 2022.
