A living person died, and the dead remained alive
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Musician and singer Bohdan Jonatan Mikolášek was born on 2 December 1948, in Prague as the third son of a Protestant pastor. He spent his childhood in Zásmuky, Pustá Rybná, and Dvakačovice, and attended grammar school in Poděbrady. He devoted himself to music from a young age, but due to an unfavorable political assessment, he was unable to attend an arts school and therefore studied electrical engineering. At the time of the August occupation he was with his father and brothers in West Germany, where they organized protest concerts; however, he later returned to Czechoslovakia. After Jan Palach’s death in January 1969, he composed the song “Ticho” (Silence), inspired by the silent student procession on Wenceslas Square. He was active at the Semafor Theatre and also helped found the singer-songwriter association Šafrán. After having performed “Ticho” at a concert at the Protestant seminary in January 1972, he was interrogated by State Security and banned from performing in public. His future wife, Jana Koláčná, was expelled from her theology studies. They married in September 1972. Mikolášek first worked as a labourer at Aritma Vokovice and later as an engineer at the rector’s office of the University of Agriculture. He devoted himself to music only in private, including in an underground band he founded with Pastor Alfréd Kocáb. Since the couple was still unable to work freely even after many years, they emigrated in 1982 with their two children via Yugoslavia to Switzerland. Jana Mikolášková became a pastor there, and Bohdan continued his musical work. After living in the countryside, the family moved to Zurich, where the couple still lives today.
