Pavel Dostál (February 25, 1943 – July 24, 2005) was the

Minister of Culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizati ...

from 1998 to 2005. Born 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 th ...

, North

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The me ...

in 1943, Dostál took an early interest in theatre. In 1966, he put aside his technician trade in order to become the

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

of the Experimental Theatre in Olomouc. For the next few years, he was active as a theatre producer, and a writer of plays, TV scripts, and magazine columns. During this time, Dostál was member of the

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Cominte ...

. Disillusionment struck him in August 1968, when the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

invaded

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

. Dostál took part in the

underground radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially w ...

broadcasts at Czechoslovak Radio, which was central to local resistance to the Communist

occupation Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

. He did not formally end his Communist Party membership until the following year, in protest against the government placement of pro-Soviet

Gustáv Husák Gustáv Husák (, , ; 10 January 1913 – 18 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak communist politician of Slovak origin, who served as the long-time First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1969 to 1987 and the president o ...

. Due to these activities, he was kept under surveillance by the STB

secret police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...

, and allowed only to work at labour and technical jobs for 20 years. Still, he made attempts at protest during this time, and was detained as late as 1989, for the distribution of a petition. Dostál was able to return to theatre again after the revolution in 1989. As before, he worked in theatre in Olomouc. He became active in governmental politics during this time. In 1991, he joined the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(ČSSD), and, in 1996, was eventually elected as a Member of Parliament for that party. In 1998, Dostál was appointed Minister of Culture for the Czech Republic. During his tenure, Dostál often spoke out in defence of Czech minorities. He was once attacked with a knife for his support of Czech

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

. He served as Minister of Culture until his death on July 24, 2005, after suffering from

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

for nearly a year.

External links

*
Official Czech Government biography

Radio Prague profile

Prague Post obituary
1943 births 2005 deaths Deaths from pancreatic cancer Culture ministers of the Czech Republic Politicians from Olomouc Deaths from cancer in the Czech Republic Communist Party of Czechoslovakia politicians Czech Social Democratic Party MPs Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) Members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic (1996–1998) Members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic (1998–2002) Members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic (2002–2006) {{CzechRepublic-politician-stub