Josef Štamfest

Josef Štamfest was born on 19 March 1930 in Prague. However, he grew up in the countryside in the family of a farmer who was one of the most prominent and capable in Mělník Vtelno. The Štamfest family farmed there for several centuries. The family belonged to the descendants of the secret Protestants, who in 1781, after the proclamation of the patent of toleration by Emperor Joseph II, subscribed to the Protestant faith. His mother came from the Protestant Sixta family. She was born in the neighbouring village of Vysoká Libeň, where her father Matěj Sixta was also one of the largest farmers. The Štamfests were members of the local congregation of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren until their forced eviction in 1952. During his childhood and youth Josef Štamfest was active in the local Sokol and in football. After completing his primary and municipal schools, he graduated from a two-year agriculture school in Česká Lípa and also attended a four-year agriculture school in Čáslav. He wanted to devote himself fully to agriculture, to continue in his father’s footsteps. His hopes for farming began to dissolve in 1949 after the establishment of the cooperative farm in Mělnické Vtelno. At the end of 1951, the Štamfests were forced by decree of the local National Committee to hand over their farm to the joint administration and in April 1952 they were evicted to a designated flat in Dolní Beřkovice. In February 1953, the father was sentenced by the People’s Court in Mělník to ten months’ imprisonment, a fine of 30 000 crowns, forfeiture of all his property and a ban on residence in the Mělník district for failure to pay a fine and fulfill obligatiory deliveries. After returning from prison, he was unable to live with his relatives and the family moved outside the Mělník district. They bought a house in Čelákovice. Josef Štamfest first worked as a labourer, in the second half of the 1950s he became a technician at the state farm in Doksy. Even here, however, the problems did not end, as he was charged with an economic offence. The excuse was that he had bought pigs, which he allegedly fed from state property. In February 1959, the People’s Court in Doksy initially sentenced him to 15 months’ imprisonment, but eventually acquitted him on appeal and on the basis of the testimony of new witnesses. At the beginning of the 1960s, Josef Štamfest moved to Prague and, after marrying Antonie Pavlíková, started a family. He worked as a truck driver for thirteen years. Due to health problems with his back, he then moved to Metrostav, where he worked as a transport manager. After the fall of the regime in 1989, he managed to rebuild the family farm, which he passed on to his son. He lived alternately in Prague and in Mělnické Vtelno. In Prague, the Štamfests were members of the evangelical congregation in Nusle.