Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:24:34 +0200https://english.radio.cz/jiri-stransky-a-doctor-prison-sciences-8599089© 2026 Radio Prague International As a writer Jiří Stránský has never had to look far beyond his own extraordinary life story for inspiration. He was born in 1931 into an influential Prague political family – in fact his maternal grandfather even served for three years as prime minister in the 1930s. During the German occupation Jiří’s father Karel survived Auschwitz, and as a teenager Jiří took part in the Prague Uprising in the last days of the war. But ironically, the family suffered just as much under the communists after the war as they had under the Germans. They had never made any secret of their dislike of both political extremes. Jiří was not allowed to study and in 1953 was arrested on fictitious charges of spying. He was sentenced to eight years in prison, much of which he spent working in a uranium mine. Paradoxically, it was here that Jiří Stránský found the inspiration to write. This was the time of the Stalinist purges, and he found himself alongside some of the writers he most respected, including the well known Brno poet, Jan Zahradníček. In a busy Prague café, Jiří told me about how these writers became his role model. encr@radio.cz (Cesky Rozhlas)webmaster@radio.cz (CRo Webmaster) https://english.radio.cz/sites/default/files/images/4f5197446b1f6808606b2a0aab5e5a67.png?timestamp=1583150525 https://english.radio.cz/jiri-stransky-a-doctor-prison-sciences-8599089 Radio Prague International Radio Prague International radio.prague.int@gmail.com clean 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9