Svatopluk Karásek

Svatopluk Karásek (2015)

Svatopluk Karásek (born October 18, 1942 in Prague ; † December 20, 2020 there ) was a Czech Protestant pastor , songwriter and politician . The theologian and vice-chairman of the Freedom Union ( US-DEU ) was appointed by the government as human rights commissioner in 2004 .

Life

After graduating from high school in 1961 and doing military service, he worked in the Kladno mines from 1963 . In 1964 he began studying at the Evangelical Theological Faculty of Charles University in Prague, which he successfully completed in 1968. After that, Karásek worked as a pastor until his theological activity was revoked in 1973. Until 1976 he was allowed to continue working as a fort . He began to get involved in underground music around 1973 and appeared at several festivals in the following years. In 1976 he was sentenced to eight months in prison with the rock group The Plastic People of the Universe . In 1977 he signed Charter 77 and was then no longer allowed to perform in public.

In 1980 he emigrated to Austria and went on to Switzerland , where he worked as a pastor until 1997. In 1990 he began to preach again in Bohemia (Nové Město pod Smrkem) and received a parish in Prague in 1997. In 2001 he was appointed to the Council of Czech Television , left the council on October 30, 2001 after internal disputes.

In 2002 Karásek was elected to the House of Representatives and in 2004 was appointed Human Rights Commissioner. After that he still performed with his rock band Pozdravpánbu (German, 'Grüßgott').

Svatopluk Karásek (2003)

Works

Literary works

• Staré věci (Old Things) , 1975 poems
• Protestor znamená vyznávám (Protestor means I confess) , 1992
• Víno tvé výborné (Your excellent wine) , 1998

Musical works

Karásek falls into the category of Czech folk singers. He wrote faith and spiritual texts.

• Say No To The Devil, 1978 Sweden
• Už jsi řek Ďáblovi ne? (Have you already said no to the devil?) , 1990

Published in German

• The soaked pastor: a happy and serious résumé Prague – Zurich return. 2000, ISBN 3857100397
• Laugh at this hopelessness! Zurich, 2007, ISBN 978-3-290-17429-3

Memberships

• Obec spisovatelů (Czech Writers' Union)

Web links

Commons : Svatopluk Karásek  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Svatopluk Karásek in the catalog of the German National Library
• Svatopluk Karásek at Discogs (English)
• 2004 Czech Radio report
• Svatopluk Karasek's website