The Brontosaurus Environmentalist Movement members were facing trouble. Bottles of wine for secret police agents helped
Download image
Jiří Dražil was born on August 26, 1957, in Prague. His parents joined the communist party. His mother was personally involved in the Prague Spring, she joined the Club of Committed Non-Party Members (KAN for short in Czech). After the launch of the so-called Normalisation, her membership in the communist party was cancelled and she lost her job. His father believed in communist values until his death. As a university student, Jiří Dražil joined the environmentalist movement called Brontosaurus. He dedicated several decades of his life to the resurrection of Lukov castle, which was saved largely thanks to his initiative. Under the pretext of preventing illegal activities, there was a police raid at Lukov in the 1980s. With the help of several bottles of wine, the witness and his colleagues managed to persuade the Brno secret police agents to destroy the evidence from the raid, such as photographs and lists of participants. When the witness boasted about the successful corruption of the secret police agents, he was expelled from the environmental committee of the Czechoslovak Socialist Youth Union. Despite the family listening to Radio Free Europe and Voice of America at home, Jiří Dražil became a communist party candidate. He believed his chances of protecting the environment would be bigger if he joined the party. He became an influential member of the Brontosaurus Movement and a highly appreciated organiser of summer camps, weekend stays, and self-help events.
