I never joined the party because of my grandfather.
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Jiří Severin was born in Zlín on 18 November 1941. He spent his childhood in Kudlovice the birthplace of his mother Růžena Tomaštíková. His grandparents owned a former manor house with a tavern, No. 1. His father Gustav Severin worked for Baťa and later, after joining the Communist Party, as the head of the social section at the regional authority. The family farm was nationalized after 1948. Jiří Severin completed the Teachers Institute in Gottwaldov and the Faculty of Education of Palacký University in Olomouc. After the August invasion in 1968, he and a friend published the newspaper Naše Slovácko which criticized the developments. He had to quit teaching after 1968 because of his disagreement with the occupation, and later worked at a special school in Uherské Hradiště and as a teacher and deputy headmaster of elementary art schools in Otrokovice and Gottwaldov. He and wife Svatava raised three children - David, Beata and Jakub. In 1989 he was actively involved in the revolutionary events and co-founded the Civic Forum in Gottwaldov. From 1993 he was the director of the elmentary art school and the Small Stage in Zlín, and in 2000-2004 he served as a councillor for culture and heritage care of the Zlín Region. In 2003 he co-founded the private art school Morava. He wrote several books and was instrumental in establishing the Museum of Distilleries in Vlčnov. His contributions to culture and regional history earned him the Pro Amicis Musae (2011), Gloria musaealis (2011) and the Miroslav Ivanov Awards (2012). He lived in Zlín in 2025.
