Jaroslav Hutka (born 21 April 1947 in

Olomouc Olomouc (, , ; german: Olmütz; pl, Ołomuniec ; la, Olomucium or ''Iuliomontium'') is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 99,000 inhabitants, and its larger urban zone has a population of about 384,000 inhabitants (2019). Located on t ...

) is a Czech musician, composer, songwriter, and

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

and

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

activist. He was a signatory of

Charter 77 Charter 77 (''Charta 77'' in Czech and Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Jiří Něm ...

and the 2008

Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism The Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism was a declaration which was initiated by the Czech government and signed on 3 June 2008 by prominent European politicians, former political prisoners and historians, among them former ...

. Hutka left

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

in October 1978 due to persecution from the Communist authorities, and lived in exile in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. After the

fall of communism in Czechoslovakia The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...

on 26 November 1989, he returned to his native country. His works include ''Citizen Havel'' (2008), ''Schritte im Labyrinth'' (1990) and ''Bratřícek Karel'' (2016).

Early life

Hutka was born on 21 April 1947 in Olomouc, Czechoslovakia. His family was forced to leave their home when Hutka was five years old. Their house was made state property and the family of five consequently lived in one room adjacent to a police station.

Music career

In 1962, he began to study painting in Prague. He dropped out of school in 1966, and began performing music. Hutka and his friend Petr Kalandra were among the first to perform on

Charles Bridge Charles Bridge ( cs, Karlův most ) is a medieval stone arch bridge that crosses the Vltava river in Prague, Czech Republic. Its construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV, and finished in the early 15th century.; The ...

. Hutka co-founded the music group Šafrán, which was together until 1977. The

StB State Security ( cs, Státní bezpečnost, sk, Štátna bezpečnosť) or StB / ŠtB, was the secret police force in communist Czechoslovakia from 1945 to its dissolution in 1990. Serving as an intelligence and counter-intelligence agency, it d ...

pressured Hutka and his wife Daniela to emigrate to the Netherlands. After the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...

, Hutka returned to Czechoslovakia. Hutka is still performing as a musician. He was interviewed by oral history organisation

Post Bellum Post Bellum is a Czech educational nonprofit organization based in Prague. The organization was formed in 2001 by a group of historians and journalists with the aim of increasing public knowledge of the 20th century history of the Czech Republ ...

for their ''Stories of Our Neighbors'' project.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutka, Jaroslav Living people Czech musicians Czech composers Czech male composers Czech songwriters Czech male writers Czechoslovak democracy activists Charter 77 signatories Czech human rights activists Czech anti-communists 1947 births Musicians from Olomouc Czech exiles Czechoslovak emigrants to the Netherlands