14 years old, first steps in Scouting

Born in 1923 in Germany, of a father who was in Czechoslovakia as a diplomat, he joined the association "Junák" in 1937 in Prague, when he was 14.

Soon after, war broke out. In 1940 Scouting is banned in Czechoslovakia.
He does not hear it quite that way. So he clandestinely continued scouting under the cover of an association of teenagers "Czech Tourist Club". And he resisted.

Czech scouts in 1940

Clandestine Czech Scouts in 1941

21 years old, arrested by the Gestapo

He was arrested in 1944 with other Scout leaders by the Gestapo. Thanks to Morse code, in prison, they managed to organize their defense and how they will testify. Many people ended up in a concentration camp. Jiří worked for Todt, a German organization which enslaved concentration camp prisoners for German constructions (which built the Atlantic Wall in France, for instance).

Jiří managed to escape and hid in Prague until the end of the war. Then he studied law. Scouting is relaunched, and he is part of it.

Czech scout in 1947

25 years, arrested by the Communists

With other scouts, he opposed to the Communist takeover in 1949. Again, they coordinated their defense with morse code and some other Scout abilities. He was sentenced to 20 years of prison for treason. He was forced to work in uranium mines. There, he founded a Rover clan "Equality" and organized clandestine activities. While the newspapers and pencils were banned in the camp, they succeeded in organizing solidarity between families, sending letters, finding medicine, accompanying depressed prisoners, organizing secret masses, readings, language courses, and they even managed to publish about twenty clandestine newspapers. He encountered serious health issues but he held on.

37 years, released

In 1960 he was granted amnesty. Then he lived with his parents. He worked among others as a maintenance agent of a public swimming pool. Then he contributed to the Czech radio and, in 1968, to a new magazine named "Doba".

In the same year he succeeded in reviving Scouting. But in 1970 Scouting was again banned. He continued to work as a freelance journalist, including translations.

66 years, 3rd scouting relaunch

In 1989, he participated in the Velvet Revolution which liberated the country from communism. He actively participated in the 3rd renaissance of Scouting, and became a member of the Board of Junák, especially in the field of international relations. In 1992 he was elected president. In 1999, accompanied by Vaclav Havel, he hosted the European Conference of Guiding and Scouting.

In 2002, he was rewarded by the Bronze Wolf. He was the very first scout from Eastern Europe to receive it.

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