The password Czechoslovak meant to remain loyal to oneself and to one’s country
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Karel Škarka Jr. was born on 29 March 1946 in Ústí nad Orlicí into the family of a war hero, which significantly influenced the direction of his life. His father, Colonel Karel Škarka, risked his life during the World War II in the dramatic transition from government troops to the Allied forces, with whom he subsequently took part in the siege of the port of Dunkirk. After the February 1948 coup, however, the family suffered political persecution; the father was expelled from the army and the son was disadvantaged in his choice of studies by the regime. Therefore, Karel Škarka first trained as a machine fitter, and only later was he able to graduate from the Secondary Technical School of Mechanical Engineering in Rychnov nad Kněžnou in 1964-1968, and then to study at two universities by distance learning. After the fall of the communist regime, he became actively involved in public life and was elected to the town council in the first free elections. Since 1990, he has been passing on his professional knowledge as a teacher at a vocational school and an art and design school, but he has also held important political positions as mayor and deputy mayor of Ústí nad Orlicí. He confirmed his lifelong respect for his father’s courage in 2016, when he and his son Ondřej travelled in the footsteps of his father’s wartime anabasis in Italy and the Alps. This family history, symbolizing loyalty to the homeland even in the most difficult times, was later elaborated in the award-winning biographical book “Password: Czechoslovak”. In 2025, at the time of recording, he lived in Ústí n. Orlicí.
