Ing. Jan Tůma

* 1948

Victim of forced relocation, Victim of persecution due the forced agricultural collectivisation, Svědci lokálních událostí z éry komunismu
23. 2. 1949 – Beginning the forced agricultural collectivisation, 21. 8. 1968 - Invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops, 25. 1. 1969 Jan Palach´s funeral, 26 April 1986 - Chernobyl disaster
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    Double experience with the post-revolutionary judiciary on the redress of past wrongs

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    "The effort of those judges who were on the panel was enormous because I didn't know proper legal behaviour - I could write something, but not these things – and I was supposed to act as a prosecutor in court. So a fellow corporate lawyer advised me what to do, but you know, after the first appearance I was lost. So finally the chairwoman said, 'You know what? I always tell you what to do, then I'll start the formal hearing, you say it, and then we'll end it again when we need to, and we'll make the arrangements again.' So I can't complain, I can't complain about this judge and this panel. But there was another judge, for example, who forgot about us for four years. She completely forgot."

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    August 1968 in Prague Dejvice

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    "I arrived to Prague on 23 August 1968, and I was walking from Victory Square to the Powder Bridge and suddenly I heard machine guns firing. I didn't know which corner to turn to hide. Because it was so loud in between the buildings and you couldn't tell where it was coming from. The bullets marked the whole of the school wall, and in the middle of the Victory Square on the grass area there were army tanks, and there were barrels pointing into every street. We felt anxious."

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    České Budějovice, 04.05.2021

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    České Budějovice, 17.06.2021

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It will take two more generations

Jan Tůma, 2021
Jan Tůma, 2021
photo: Post Bellum
photo: Post Bellum
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Jan Tůma was born on 31 July 1948 in the small village of Sviny in the Tábor region and he spent most of his life in South Bohemia. Before his fifteenth birthday, he had to leave home and move in with relatives in České Budějovice to avoid having to join the Unified Agricultural Cooperative (JZD) and to be able to study at secondary school. In 1967-1973 he studied nuclear fuels and radiochemistry at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague. In January 1969 he attended Jan Palach’s funeral as a guard at the grave. He worked as a technologist at the uranium ore processing plant MAPE Mydlovary, then he worked in various positions in the energy and ecology sectors. In 1990-1992 Jan Tůma served as a representative of the Civic Forum in the city council of České Budějovice, he supported the establishment of the local organisation of the Civic Democratic Party, but left it later. He was re-elected to the city council in 2010 on behalf of the Citizens for Budějovice movement. The family of his wife, Marie Panochová from Hartmanice, was evicted from their farm in the mid-1950s in the Kulak action. They were moved to completely inadequate premises, lost their property, and the father was imprisoned several times. In 2021 Jan Tůma was living in České Budějovice.

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