Jiří Dienstbier (20 April 1937 – 8 January 2011) was a Czech politician and journalist.

Biography

Born in

Kladno Kladno (; ) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 70,000 inhabitants. It is the largest city in the region and has a rich industrial history. Administrative division Kladno consists of six municipal parts ...

, he was one of

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

's most respected foreign correspondents before being fired after the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring (; ) was a period of liberalization, political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected Secretary (title), First Secre ...

. Unable to have a livelihood as a journalist, he worked as a janitor for the next two decades. During this time, he secretly revived the suppressed '' Lidové noviny'' newspaper. After the end of communist rule in 1989, he became the country's first non-Communist foreign minister in four decades, a post he held until 1992. Shortly after his appointment in December 1989, Dienstbier and Minister of National Defence Miroslav Vacek called for the withdrawal of 75,000 Soviet troops who had been stationed in the country since the 1968

Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia On 20–21 August 1968, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four fellow Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and the Hungarian People's Republic. The ...

. In 2008, he was elected to the Czech Senate for the

region. He died on 8 January 2011 in Prague's Vinohrady Hospital.

Awards and honors

In 2000, the

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

-based International Press Institute named him one of its 50 World Press Freedom Heroes of the past 50 years. In 2013, Dienstbier was posthumously awarded the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award given jointly by the Prague Society for International Cooperation an
Global Panel Foundation

In popular culture

He was portrayed by Vojtěch Kotek in

Jiří Mádl Jiří Mádl (born October 23, 1986) is a Czech film actor, director and screenwriter. Biography He was born in České Budějovice. Among his most prominent roles are a part in the 2008 film ''Night Owls (2008 film), Night Owls'', for which ...

's film ''

Waves United States Naval Reserve (Women's Reserve), better known as the WAVES (for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), was the women's branch of the United States Naval Reserve during World War II. It was established on July 21, 1942, ...

'' (2024).

References

External links

Senate page

Personal website
1937 births 2011 deaths Charles University alumni People from Kladno Politicians from Kladno Charter 77 signatories Civic Forum politicians Civic Movement Government ministers Communist Party of Czechoslovakia members Czech human rights activists Czech democracy activists Czechoslovak dissidents Foreign ministers of Czechoslovakia Government ministers of Czechoslovakia Janitors People of the Velvet Revolution Recipients of the Legion of Honour {{Czech-politician-stub