Jiří Tuček

Jiří Tuček was born on April 21, 1944, in Prague, the son of a trader. He has no siblings. He went school and completed an apprenticeship and his studies in Prague. He witnessed the end of WWII, the beginnings of the Communist regime and the Prague Spring in 1968. He gained his first experience with the West when he travelled to London via Germany after he had completed his studies. In London, he got to know a German woman, fell in love with her and they started dating across the German-Czechoslovak border. For two years, his girlfriend kept coming to Czechoslovakia by car from Mannheim. The couple is frequently subjected to various border checks, searches, and interrogations. They also filed a number of applications and requests and had to endure endless hours of waiting at the border. Finally, Jiří Tuček decided to leave Czechoslovakia and emigrate to Germany. After their wedding in May 1972, in Czechoslovakia, he filed an application for emigration and after a few months, his application was approved. The couple moved to Karlsruhe in West Germany. The decision to leave the country wasn’t an easy one for Tuček, since he was deeply rooted in Czechoslovakia and had to leave behind his family as well as his friends. The Tuček spouses have two daughters and they continue to come back to Bohemia several times a year.