There is no guarantee that you will educate soldiers in the spirit of the people’s democratic system...
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Jaroslav Škaloud was born on 3 February 1935 in Bratislava to Jaroslav Škaloud, a bank clerk, and Růžena Škaloudová. After the establishment of the Slovak state, the family moved to Prague. He spent his childhood in Vršovice, where he experienced air raids and the Prague Uprising. After the war, he completed his apprenticeship in Spofa and in 1954 he graduated from secondary chemical school. Due to the difficult social situation, he entered the Military Chemical Apprenticeship in Litoměřice, after two years he moved to Martin, from where he was expelled in 1957 for “ideological unreliability”. In the same year, he joined the Institute of Physiology of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (ČSAV) as a laboratory technician, where he completed his chemical and electrical engineering studies while working. From 1964 he organised ski courses for children of ČSAV employees, which became the Škadok club. In 1977, the American consul Rex Himes joined the group, which led to the interest of State Security. At the time of the Velvet Revolution, the witness became chairman of the strike committee at the Institute of Physiology of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, where he helped democratize the workplace. He was later rehabilitated and promoted to lieutenant. In 1991-1999, when he retired, he was in charge of workshops and maintenance at the Institute. He was active in working with youth and adults and organized more than eighty ski tours during his lifetime. In 2025 he was living with his wife Jana Škaloudová in Prague.
