He was ashamed that his father was a preacher. Eventually he became one himself.
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Daniel Fajfr was born on 8 March 1952 in Gottwaldov, today’s Zlín, to Vladimír and Jiřina Fajfr. His father, a doctor of law, worked as a lay evangelical preacher. In elementary school, he faced ridicule from teachers and classmates because of his faith. In 1961, the Communists took away his father’s state approval to practice clerical activities, which happened three more times in the following years. In 1966, when his father was granted permission again, he was no longer able to preach in Moravia, so the family moved to České Budějovice. There Daniel Fajfr graduated from high school in 1970. From 1970 to 1976 he studied at the Faculty of Engineering of the Czech Technical University. In 1973 his mother died after a long illness. Two years later, his father married for the second time to the American Ruth Stewart. In 1977, he completed basic military service, which his superiors made uncomfortable for him because of his faith and his American stepmother. While working at Setuza, he worked as a lay preacher in Ústí nad Labem. In 1982 the authorities withdrew his state approval, which he regained in 1988. In the 1980s he was involved in smuggling illegal religious literature. In 1988 he began to devote himself fully to his work as a preacher of the Church of the Brethren congregation in Ústí nad Labem. In 2023 he lived in Ústí nad Labem.
