Ondřej Černý

Ondřej Černý was born on August 23rd, 1966, in Prague. He got married while in high school and started a family, which gave him a feeling of escape from the real world into his own. Around 1986, he realized that this escape made no sense and that he’d have to face the society and the regime he was living in. After the demonstration at the Old Town Square in 1987, he wrote a letter to Minister of the Interior, which was the reason why he was approached by one of the founders of the Independent Peace Association – an initiative for the demilitarization of society. In this way the 20-year-old Ondřej Černý got to where the action was and stayed there throughout the second half of the 1980s. He actively participated in the demonstrations at Škroupovo náměstí Square and in the beginning of Palach’s Week. He also took part in the happenings of the Organization for a Merrier Present and became one of the organizers of the NMS. He was arrested many times and once imprisoned. In 1988, he signed Charter 77 and after the revolution he witnessed the beginnings of the transformation of Czech media as a news editor.

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