No one knew where my father was
František Straka Jr was born on 8 May 1950 in Mlečice. His father, resistance fighter František Straka Sr, had to hide from the Gestapo from October 1943 to May 1945. In the mid-1950s his family fell victim to the collectivisation, they lost their fields, farm machinery, and cattle. Instead of working at the local agricultural cooperative, František Straka Sr commuted to the Škoda Works in Pilsen for about a year, before requesting a disability pension. František Straka Jr graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University in Prague. In 1968 he experienced the students’ strike, in January 1969 he attended Jan Palach’s funeral. He found employment at the Škoda Works.
