Pavel Dostál (25 February 1943 – 24 July 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 organiza ...

from 1998 to 2005. Born in

Olomouc Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region. Located on the Morava (rive ...

, North

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

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 company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

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 Com ...

. Disillusionment struck him in August 1968, when the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

invaded

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 ...

. Dostál took part in the

underground radio Pirate radio is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license, whether an invalid license or no license at all. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are rece ...

broadcasts at Czechoslovak Radio, which was central to local resistance to the Communist occupation. 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 politician who served as the long-time First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1969 to 1987 and the President of Czechoslovakia from 1975 ...

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

secret police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...

, 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 Form ...

(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: Ethnic groups * Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin ** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities ** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom * Romanians (Romanian ...

. He served as Minister of Culture until his death on 24 July 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 ...

for nearly a year.

External links

*
Official Czech Government biography

Radio Prague profile

Prague Post obituary
1943 births 2005 deaths Deaths from pancreatic cancer in the Czech Republic Culture ministers of the Czech Republic Politicians from Olomouc 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