He assigned students an essay on the occupation, then faced suspicion of espionage
Stáhnout obrázek
Jiří Uhlíř was born on 21 April 1937 in Jasenná near Jaroměř into a farming family. He had an older sister Helena and younger siblings, twins Maruška and Václav. Their parents brought them up in the Catholic spirit. In 1945 Jiří welcomed the Soviet army in Jasenná and the soldiers stole their clothes and a basket of eggs from their home. He completed the municipal school in Jasenná, the municipal school in Josefov and in 1955 he graduated from the Jaroměř Grammar School. He studied Czech language and literature for the third grade at the Pedagogical University in Prague. In 1983 he received his doctorate from the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. His first teaching position was at the primary school in Pilníkov. From 1961 he taught Czech language and literature and history at the Secondary School of Forestry in Trutnov. He condemned the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968. He was interrogated by State Security on suspicion of espionage because of an essay on the occupation that he had assigned to students. He refused to delete the names of inconvenient authors from his bibliography on Božena Němcová and the book was therefore not allowed to be published. He was still allowed to publish only anonymously or under a pseudonym. He never hid the fact that he was a believer and regularly attended church. In 1989 he participated in the general strike in Trutnov and welcomed the regime change. Throughout his life he published articles, medallions, obituaries, bibliographies and promoted regional personalities and figures of forestry education. He was never a member of any political party. In 2021 he lived in Jaroměř.
