When it broke out, I prayed so that there would be no shooting
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Vítězslav Janda was born on December 21, 1959 in Pardubice. He often traveled with the children’s and later the university choir during the socialist era, and was able to get a picture of life on both sides of the former Iron Curtain. In 1968, he became a member of the briefly renewed Junák. He graduated in analytical and physical chemistry and the Department of Ecology at the University of Chemical Technology in Pardubice. During his studies he played in several bands. He performed basic military service with an elite chemical unit in Liberec. He then joined the Research Institute of Synthetic Resins and Varnishes in Pardubice (VÚSPL). Thanks to petitions promoting environmental requirements, he came into contact with East Bohemian dissidents. In the summer of 1989, he signed the petition A Few Sentences. Immediately after November 17, 1989, he became one of the founding members of the Civic Forum in Pardubice. He focused on the environmental agenda. For most of his life he worked at VÚSPL. He lived in Pardubice at the time of the filming of the interview (2019).
