Do not hurt anybody and help your neighbours
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Josef Vinklát was born February 18, 1934 in Svratouch in the Vysočina region in the family of a cabinet-maker as the youngest of five siblings. In 1936 the family moved to Libice nad Cidlinou where they lived until the end of the Second World War. After the war the family moved to Mimoň where Josef’s father had a small cabinet-maker’s workshop. Josef was a member of the Sokol sports organization and he participated in the All-Sokol Rally in 1948. In 1950 he went to apprentice as a locksmith. Since he was a son of a sole trader he was only allowed to study a secondary technical school of mechanical engineering. He completed his studies in 1954. Josef did his military service in the rocket launcher unit in Rožmitál pod Třemšínem. Young Josef was a successful track athlete and he specialized in middle distance running. Together with his colleagues from the running club in Jablonec he set a national record in the relay race 4 by 1 mile in 1957. He married in the same year and he had three children. After his return from the military service he worked as a designer in the company Plastimat. During the Prague Spring he became actively involved in the newly established Club of Committed Non-Party Members (KAN). As a result of his activity he was then persecuted in his work after the Soviet occupation. In 1970 he thus went to work in the Manufacture Centre Maják and nine years later he began working as a gardener at the chateau in Sychrov. From 1980 he was working in garden centres in Ruprechtice and Liberec regions. In 2017 he and his second wife lived in Liberec. Josef Vinklát has been active as a publisher and graphic artist for a long time. In 2015 he was awarded the Czech PEN Club award.
