Rudolf Bereza (1942–2014) was a Czech dissident. He was best known for letters he wrote to President

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 ...

and holding a banner in support of Charter 77.

Biography

Rudolf Bereza was born in 1942 in

Tovačov Tovačov (german: Tobitschau) is a town in the Přerov District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,400 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. Administrat ...

, in what is today the Czech Republic. Growing up, he didn’t resist the Communist Regime. But in 1968, the armies of the Warsaw Pact invaded. This is the event that sparked him into dissident activities. He signed

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 began to deliver

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 ...

documents for the Resistance. He was close with Tomáš Hradilek with whom Bereza participated in many resistance activities. They are both well known for a letter they wrote to President

titled "A Letter by Five Workers." In this letter, they asked the President to abdicate. One of the rebellious activities Bereza is most famous for is when he and others held a banner 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 ...

that read “

calls for civic courage.” He also wrote another letter to President Husák asking him to let political prisoners free and this letter was broadcast on

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

. During his time of dissidence, he was arrested and brought in for questioning many times. The StB even wiretapped his house. After the Velvet Revolution, Bereza was involved in the countries move from communism to democracy. He was involved in the Czech National Council for the Civic Forum and worked as a police chief and bus driver. Even though he is not that well known, a few Czech organizations have interviewed him to document his story, like Post Bellum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bereza, Rudolf 1942 births 2014 deaths People from Tovačov Charter 77 signatories