Our Members

Mgr. Jiří Kaucký

Jiří Kaucký

(born 1973) Chair

He studied at the Law Faculty of the Charles University in Prague. Since 1997 he has been working at the Legislation and Regulation Coordination Section of the Czech Ministry of Interior, since 2001 as its director.

He has been the co-author of regulations created within the Ministry's authority, particularly within the so-called civil administration section, such as e.g. the Act No. 500/2004 Coll., the Administrative Procedure Code.

He has also participated in the preparation of regulations related to the settlement with the communist regime, particularly the Act No. 499/2004 Coll., on the Archives and Record Management, Act No. 181/2007 Coll., on the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes and the Security Services Archive, Act No. 262/2011 Coll., on Participants in Anti-Communist Opposition and Resistance and the Government Resolution No. 135/2009 Coll., on the Provision of a One-Time Contribution to Mitigate Certain Wrongs Caused by the Communist Regime.

He also holds the position of a Vice-Chair of the Minister of Interior's Advisory Body for the Administrative Procedure Code and is a member of the Ministry of Defence's Appeals Commission.

He is also a member of the Working Commission of the Czech Government's Legislative Council and several Appeal Commissions.

PhDr. Prokop Tomek, Ph. D.

Prokop Tomek

(born 1965) Vice-Chair

Originally studied to be a metal machinist and between 1983 – 1996 he worked in blue-collar jobs, with the exception of the compulsory two-year military service. Between 1993 and 1997 he completed distance studies at a gymnasium. Later he graduated at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Charles University in Prague (2006) and is currently an external doctoral student at the Institute of Czech History, Faculty of Philosophy of the Charles University in Prague. Since August 1989 he has been a signatory of the Charter 77 and since 1991 he has been a member of Amnesty International. In years 1996-2007 he worked at the Office for Documentation and Investigation of Communism Crimes. Currently he is a historian at the Military History Institute in Prague. He is an active participant of scientific conferences aimed at the post-war era. He is an author and co-author of exhibitions, independent publications and articles in proceedings and scientific journals dealing with various topics from the era of communist totality, e.g. communist prisons in the Czech Republic, Radio Free Europe and the State Security Service. Recently he has focused on the issue of the second and third resistance. In the years 2006-2009 he led a course “Coming to Terms with the Past" and a series of lectures on the third resistance at the Pardubice University.

PhDr. Marie Rút Křížková

Marie Rút Křížková

(born 1936) Passed her leaving exams in 1955 at the Pedagogic School in Liberec, in 1962 she begun a distance study at the Faculty of Philosophy in Prague in the programme Czech Language – Pedagogy. She graduated in December 1968 and in 1991 she received a doctorate in Philosophy. She worked as a teacher, tutor, editor, specialist at the Terezin Memorial and at the Central Bohemian Gallery in Prague, between 1976 – 1980 as a forest worker, since 1981 as a mail sorter. After 1989 she has been an external proof-reader for the Respekt magazine, then a lector of literature at the Jabok College of Social Pedagogy and Theology in Prague (1993-2001).

The StB (State Security) took an interest in her already in August 1968, when she repeatedly protested against the invasion and occupation by Warsaw Pact troops in the Liberec Radio. On 13th January 1977 she signed the Charter 77 with a public statement against the article Ztroskotanci a samozvanci (The Shipwrecked and Self-appointed), which was published in the Rudé právo (Red law) newspaper. From 2nd February 1983 until 6th January 1984 she has been one of the three spokespersons of the Charter 77. She cooperated with the Committee for the Defence of the Unjustly Prosecuted and on 15th October she signed the manifesto of the Civic Freedom Movement and was active in its Christian-democratic wing. Between 1994 and 2006 she was a member and eventually the chair of the committee of the literary competition for poets under 22 years of age Ortenova Kutná Hora, where she established the “First Book" edition, which still publishes poetic debuts of awarded authors. She is also a member of the Czech Christian Academy since its establishment in 1990 and is still active in the Society of Christians and Jews, which she co-founded after the fall of the totalitarian regime.

IN the 70s and 80s she was forbidden to publish her works. In the samizdat edition Kvart by Jan Vladislav she published her study Jiří Orten, a Poet of Death and Love (1978) and in the same year the anthology Is My Homeland a Wall of Ghettoes? (co-authors Kurt Jiří Kotouč and Zdeněk Ornest), which was only printed much later in 1995 by the publisher Aventinum in a Czech, German and English version. In 1995 this book received the American National Award for the best work on holocaust in New York and the Golden Ribbon in Prague for the best book dealing with the topic of the youth.

She also received awards for her own works, namely the publication Life as a Sign – Dialogues with Josef Zvěřina (Prague, Zvon 1995 and 1996) and the book Testimony, Which Could Not Be Told (Torst 2007) in the Lidové noviny newspaper poll.

She started compiling the works of Jiří Orten as an editor during her university studies, in the years 1966-1968 she published three books of unpublished prose by Jiří Orten at the v Severočeské nakladatelství publishing house in Liberec. Between 1992 and 2002 she published seven of the nine planned books of the Jiří Orten Works at the Československý spisovatel, Mladá fronta a Paseka publishing houses.

Currently she cooperates with the Natural School Gymnasium in Prague on its project “Take Over the Terezín Baton!“

On 10th April 2012 the Ministry of Defence has awarded her the status of a participant in the anti-communist resistance and opposition.

She is the founder of the Society of Christians and Jews and actively participates in its activities.

JUDr. Jan Kudrna, Ph.D.

Jan Kudrna

(born 1976) In 199 he graduated at the Law Faculty of the Charles University in Prague. In 2003 he successfully defended his doctoral thesis at the Law Faculty in the field of constitutional law, international public law and European law. Since 2003 he has been working as an assistant professor at the Department of Constitutional Law of the Law Faculty. He also teaches at the Metropolitan University in Prague. He also cooperates as a guest lecturer with universities in Vilnius, Wroclaw and Budapest and with other universities as well within specialised cooperation. He cooperated externally with the Constitutional Court of the Polish Republic. He also published a number of articles on the topic of electoral systems, constitutional models, regulation of extraordinary legislation or political parties both in the Czech Republic and abroad.

MVDr. Jiří Liška

Jiří Liška

(born 1949)Between 1996 and 2010 he was a Senator in the Czech Parliament. In the Senate he held the positions of the Chamber's Vice-Chair and the Chair of the Civic Democrats' club for a certain time. After graduating at the University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Brno and completing the compulsory military service he worked as a veterinarian for nearly twenty years. In 1990 he became the Chair of the Municipal Authority in Jičín. Two years later he entered the Civic Democratic Party, where he was included in the list of candidates and subsequently elected Deputy in the Federal Assembly. In the years 1994-2002 he was the mayor of Jičín. In 1996 he was elected Senator for the Jičín district for the first time. He managed to retain his post in the senatorial elections in 1998 and 2004; in 2010 he was not elected again. From 2004 he was the Vice-Chair of the Senate. In 2010 he started his own business. In 2011 he became a member of the board of directors in the state company Lesy ČR (Czech Forests).

Mgr. Miloš Rejchrt

Miloš Rejchrt

(born 1946) After the gymnasium he graduated at the Comenius Evangelical Theological Faculty (1970). After graduation he was initiated in a clerical position, in 1972 he was deprived of the state consent with the clerical activity and worked as a stoker of steam boilers until summer of 1989. At the end of 1976 he signed the Charter 77, in January 1980 took over the position of its spokesperson for a year. From November 1989 until July 1990 he studied in a doctoral programme at the Theological Faculty of the University of Geneva. In October 1990 he was elected the vicar of the Evangelical Church in Prague 6 –Dejvice. In the years 1993-1999 he worked in the Czech Radio. In January 1998 he was appointed a member of the board of directors of the Czech-German Future Fund by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. In January 2000 he was appointed a member of the Czech Television Council by the Chamber of Deputies and recalled from the post in March of the same year. In April 2000 he was again elected to be a member of the Council and later resigned from the post on 20th December 2000. In May 2000 he was elected the senior pastor of the Prague seniorate of the Czech Evangelical Church, in 2001 he started teaching at the Evangelical Academy College. In July 2002 he was elected the pastor of the Evangelical Church in Prague 1 u Salvátora. In May 2003 he was elected the deputy synod senior by the synod of the Czech Evangelical Church. Since 1st November 2006 he was appointed pastor of the Czech Evangelical Church in Prague – Kobylisy. On 28th October 2001 he was awarded the Medal of Merit by the President Václav Havel. Since 1st December 2012 he is retired. He has never been a member of any political party. He is the author of dozens of spiritual songs. He occasionally published in a number of Czech and foreign periodicals.

Miloslav Nerad

Miloslav Nerad

(born 1921) In 1939 he finished the town school in Prague and then started his studies at the ČKD Prague – Libeň Technical School. Until 1946 he worked as a technical clerk at the ČKD Prague – Libeň and then became a partner in a boiler production and repair business. In 1948 after the communist coup he and other two university students created and distributed anti-communist leaflets. After he was arrested and investigated in the Bartolomějská Street in Prague he was transferred to the Pankrác Prison. He was released due to the presidential amnesty before the court proceedings started. He established an illegal group Our Home; in November 1949 he went to Germany as there was a risk of another arrest. In the American zone he cooperated with the intelligence group of the brigadier general František Moravec and general Sergěj Ingr. After the necessary preparation he returned to the Czech Republic in April 1951 with the task to renew the operation of the Our Home group. After eight days on 5th May 1951 he was arrested by the State Security and subsequently sentenced by the State Court to 20 years of prison for high treason and espionage. He served his sentence in prisons Pankrác, Bory, Leopoldov, Bytíz, Opava and again Leopoldov. On 28th August 1964 he was released on 10-year probation. In 1968 he was a member of the K-231. At present he is a member of the presidium of the Confederation of Czech Political Prisoners. He is a holder of the Meritorious Service Plaque, which he received at the US Embassy and in 2009 he received the Medal of Merit 2nd Class from the President Václav Klaus.

JUDr. Stanislav Devátý

Stanislav Devátý

(born 1952) He completed his apprenticeship as an electrician and then studied at the secondary school of electrical engineering and worked as a technician-electrician in several state companies. His last job before 17th November 1989 was as a computer technician. He had to leave this position after he signed the Charter 77 (1985) and became a member of the Committee for the Defence of the Unjustly Persecuted. In the years 1988-1989 was a spokesperson of the Charter 77. He became famous among the democratic part of the society by placing a wreath on the grave of Jan Palach in Všetaty on 16th January 1989, when the cemetery was literally besieged by the then State Security. In 1989 he was repeatedly imprisoned due to political reasons, the public found out about his protest hunger strikes from the (at this time only sporadically jammed) Radio Free Europe. He was a co-founder of the Association of the Friends of the USA and the Social Defence Initiative. In August 1989 he was sentenced to 20 months in prison; however he managed to escape to the already free Poland. Due to security reasons he did not return to the Czech Republic until 10th December 1989 and immediately took part in the on-going events.

In June 1990 he was included in the South Moravian candidate list of the Civic Forum (OF) and was elected as a Deputy in the Federal Assembly. He was an outspoken critic of the former communists in the OF and later joined the Civic Democrats. He was elected into the 17th November Commission, which dealt with the investigation of the police actions at the Národní Třída Avenue in Prague and all related events. As a member of the Commission he participated in the creation of the so-called Screening Act. He strived for an early publishing of the lists of State Security (StB) collaborators. In 1992 he was appointed Deputy Director of the FBIS (Federal Intelligence Service) and after the split of Czechoslovakia the Director of the newly established BIS (Security Intelligence Service). In November 1996 he resigned from this post. During his tenure as Director of BIS he completed his distance Law studies and at the beginning of 1997 became a trainee solicitor at a law firm. After passing the attorney examinations he focuses exclusively on his attorney practice, particularly in the field of human rights and freedoms, criminal law, protection of personal rights and human dignity or constitutional law.

prof. PhDr. Jan Sokol, CSc.

Jan Sokol

(born 1936) He completed his apprenticeship as a jeweller and worked as one, later he worked as a mechanic. In 1958 he passed his distance study leaving exams and in 1963 started his distance studies of mathematics at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of the Charles University. In the years 1964-1990 he worked as a programmer, later as a team leader at the Mathematical Machines Research Institute. He published several books and articles about computers, translated philosophical and religious literature and was among the first wave of Charter 77 signatories. From 1990 Sokol was a member of the Přítomnost (The Present) magazine editorial board. In 1991 he started teaching philosophy, anthropology and religious studies at the Pedagogical Faculty and the Faculty of Philosophy of the Charles University. In 1997 he was named associate professor and in 2000 professor. Between 2000 and 2007 he had been the first dean of the Faculty of Humanities of the Charles University, where he still teaches.

After the first free elections Sokol was a Deputy for the OF in the Federal Assembly from 1990 to 1992. He was a Vice-Chair of the House of Nations and the Chair of the OF deputies club and the parliamentary delegation to the European Parliament. From January till July 1998 he was the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports in the Tošovský government. On 28th 2003 he was the coalition's candidate in the third presidential elections, where he narrowly lost to Václav Klaus in the final round.

Hi is well known, among others, for his criticism of the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia and in May 2007 he was among the first signatories of the declaration of the League against Anti-Semitism. In 2008 he was awarded the highest award of the French Republic, the Order of the Honour Legion in the rank of officer. Jan Sokol is a laureate of the extraordinary award PŘÍSTAV (Harbour), which he was given by the Czech Council of Children and Youth.