Jiří Hanák (27 February 1938 – 5 June 2020) was a Czech journalist, editor, political activist, and
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 ...
signatory. He was a longtime columnist and writer for various Czech and Czechoslovak newspapers and magazines. He was a recipient of the in 2005 and the Opus Vitae Award in 2010.
Born on 27 February 1938 in
Buchlovice
Buchlovice (german: Buchlowitz) is a market town in Uherské Hradiště District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,400 inhabitants.
Geography
Buchlovice is located about west of Uherské Hradiště and southwest of Zlín. ...
Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague
The Faculty of Arts, Charles University ( cs, Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy), is one of the original four faculties of Charles University in Prague. When founded, it was named the Faculty of the Liberal Arts or the Artistic Faculty. The f ...
. After graduation, he become the editor of Reporter magazine in 1967. However, he was fired from the publication in 1969 following the
Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia refers to the events of 20–21 August 1968, when the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Rep ...
. He was banned from working in journalism and forced to work menial jobs during the Normalization period in the 1970s and 1980s.
Jiří Hanák became an early 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 ...
civic initiative in 1977. In 1988, Hanak began writing for the
samizdat
Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...
newspaper, ''
Lidové noviny
''Lidové noviny'' (''People's News'', or ''The People's Newspaper'', ) is a daily newspaper published in Prague, the Czech Republic. It is the oldest Czech daily still in print, and a newspaper of record.Týden
''Týden'' ( Czech: ''Week'') is a Czech weekly news magazine which focuses mainly on news and news analysis. It has been in circulation in 1994.
History and profile
''Týden'' was founded in 1994 and soon became part of the Axel Springer AG me ...
'', in 1994. He also served as editor-in-chief of the now defunct '' Svobodné slovo'' newspaper and a commentator and columnist in ''