Lord, thanks for everything
Mgr. Rostislav Valušek was born on 18th July in Olomouc. His father, Augustin Valušek was an entrepreneur, his mother Emílie Valušková was born in Konečná and stayed at home. Apart from his parents, Rostislav was raised by his grandmother, who was one of the first members of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church and who taught Rostislav not only about faith but also about art and life. He attended basic school between 1952 and 1961. He was also influenced by Sunday religious classes at the Hussite Church, which he regularly attended. After basic school, he was an apprentice for a locker. In 1964, after several unsuccessful attempts to get into an academy of graphic arts, he had to serve in the Army. He immigrated to West Germany after August 1968. Even though he was enrolled at a graphic school in Germany, he decided to return to the country and apply for theology studies. With the help of some members of the Hussite Church, he enrolled at the Jan Hus Czechoslovak Theological Faculty in Prague. Theological studies and the Church should become a certain home. After about a year of successful studies, Rostislav‘s disillusioned situation at the faculty and in the Church started to dissolve his determination to become a priest. He finally finished his studies in 1974 mainly due to an inner spiritual experience. At that time, his life already evolved in several directions. During his studies, he began to distribute an unofficial journal in Olomouc and he began working on his artistic career. In 1972, Rostislav met with Petr Mikeš that started a long time collaboration in writing and distribution of an unofficial Samizdat journal called Texts of Friends. The editions of the Texts of Friends counted were almost three hundred. According to Jiří Gruntorád who established the Libri prohibiti library, this edition is the first unofficial journal that was distributed after the Soviet occupation in 1968. Apart from the Olomouc triumvirate: Petr Mikeš, Eduard Zach a Rostislav Valušek, the journal was also edited by the Brno section: Jiří Kuběna, Jaroslav Frič, Josef Šafařík, Pavel Švanda and others. Jiří Kuběna was instrumental in the participation of Rostislav Valušek in the literary evenings Footprints in the Window. His contribution to the unofficial journal tradition in Moravia lies mainly in copying, editing, graphic design, and bookbinding. One of the most important editions compiled by Rostislav Valušek was the anthology of literary and graphic works. Since 1984, he has released nine editions of the anthology, accompanied by his own graphic design. Apart from those activities, Rostislav Valušek also kept in touch with the Prague scene, where he established relations with the literary critic Bedřich Fučík, Jiří Němec, Dana Němcová, and Věra Jirousová. Thanks to his artistic and Samizdat activities, Rostislav Valušek received the „honor“ of being mentioned in the official Congress of Czechoslovak writers in 1977 by Vasil Biľak. This was also one of the reasons why he caught the attention of the state police. He was regularly interrogated, blackmailed and persuaded to collaborate with the regime for about a year. After the unsuccessful ‘courting‘, Rostislav Valušek was accused along with another six people in a trumped up the trial and was accused of vilification of the Republic. He was sentenced to nine months suspended sentence with the period of two years. Rostislav Valušek couldn‘t perform his priestly duties until 1989. After his studies, he had waited for the diploma for a year and was finally ordained a priest in 1975 after a year of postponing. He tried to obtain the necessary state permission in all dioceses of the Hussite Church. He was successful at the Prague diocese, which hid him in a village parish in Lužná. After a few days, his permission was canceled. He attempted to obtain the permission again in 1977 but didn‘t succeed; instead, he was arrested and interrogated. Despite the missing state permission, Rostislav Valušek occasionally served masses as an ordained priest. He could officially return to ecclesiastical activities after 1989 and until the present day, he serves as a priest of the Hussite Church in Horce nad Moravou. He often worked as a manual worker: a stoker, a worker at the rail post and between 1979 and 1989 and at the hydrologic exploration works. He married in 1983 and along with his wife Marcela; he raised two children, Jan, and Anna. Just like Otokar Březina, he comments modestly about his life: „Lord, thanks for everything.“