On the eve of the celebrations of 17 November, President of the Region Josef Bernard awarded the Honorary Plaque of the President of the Pilsen Region for courageous civic attitudes to six personalities.
Jaroslav Cuhra, Petr Hrach, Josef Kaše, Jan Rampich and Frantisek Wiendl received Memorial Certificates and Honorary Plaques of the President of the Pilsen Region for courageous civic attitudes from President Josef Bernard. An award in memoriam was also given to Patrik Štěpánek who succumbed to injuries suffered in an attack of a suicide bomber in Afghanistan on August 5, 2018.
"I am honoured to hand over the Honorary Plaque of the President of the Pilsen Region for courageous civic attitudes to people who have a connection with our region and whose attitudes have contributed to the restoration of democracy and freedom in our country. Their merits and personal bravery with which they acted at a time when different opinions were not desired, and when people were punished for their opinions and attitudes, must be constantly reminded. I have never fancied that we could so very soon deal with issues we solved in 1989. These people are usually not very well-known or famous, and but that is precisely why they deserve more of our attention," said President Josef Bernard.
The ceremony, presented by Petra Procházková, took place in the small hall of the Měšťanská beseda in Pilsen. Short videos introduced the lifelong journey of the winners. Jaroslav Hutka accompanied the program with his songs.
Jaroslav Cuhra (*3 July 1936 in Blatenka)
Jaroslav Cuhra could not study after the imprisonment of his father, so he was trained as a bricklayer. Later he completed the Czech Technical University in Prague and worked in Plzeň as a designer.
In 1968, he joined the Czechoslovak People's Party and actively worked in the renewed Scout Movement. In the late 1980s, he participated in political meetings with people of political resistance. He became a dissident and a signatory to Charter 77. He was repeatedly questioned by secret police. However, he always refused to cooperate with secret police.
After the Velvet Revolution, he was a member of the Christian and Democratic Union – Czech People’s Party and, after the establishing of the Czech Republic, he worked at the Ministry of Defence as Personnel Director. He is the President of the Confederation of Political Prisoners in Pilsen.
Petr Hrach (*30 July 1955 in Sušice)
Petr Hrach started painting as a little boy, but in the end he did not study it. He started working in PAP Sušice as a stoker after graduating from the Secondary Agricultural Technical School.
In the late 1970s, he signed two petitions and then Charter 77 in 1979. He was often interviewed in Sušice, Klatovy and Plzeň. He also collected signatures under various petitions in the vicinity of Sušice, such as a petition for returning a memorial plaque commemorating the participation of the US Army in the liberation of Sušice and a petition requesting the returning of the original commemorative plaque from the facade of the museum in Sušice. He regularly disseminated information about Charter 77 and the journals Listy and Svědectví, for which he was repeatedly detained.
Petr Hrach lives in Sušice and has been publishing his cartoons in Czech and Slovak magazines and newspapers in recent years. He also creates memory card games, postcards, wedding and Christmas cards, children's colouring books and advertising materials.
Josef Kaše (*29 September 1944 in Močerady)
As Josef Kaše came from a religious family, he was not allowed to study and was supposed to become a miner in Ostrava. In the end, he got to the Škoda Factory in Pilsen, then called the VI Lenin Factory, to become an electrical fitter.
In Pilsen, he met people who gathered in secret and devised various activities. In 1969, he participated in two international youth camps in Austria and Norway, which inspired him to organize similar events in our country. In totalitarian times, he took up a number of activities, organized camps in Slovak mountains for children and youth, and devotedly helped others. He and his friends tried to offer young people everything they believed in - striving for a meaningful life in difficult conditions and looking forward to better times.
Jan Rampich (*30 May 1966 in Pilsen)
Jan Rampich has liked to listen to punk and hard music since his childchood. Later, he attended concerts and was in contact with people from the punk and underground subculture. This and his punk look were the reason of his prosecution. He gradually became acquainted with people interested in "other" musical genres, and held various political and civic attitudes defying the regime. Eventually he was forced to leave high school and start work as a manipulation worker at ŽOS Pilsen.
In 1986, he signed Charter 77 and several petitions. He participated in demonstrations in Prague, published the magazine Pevná hráz, reproduced the petition Několik vět and collected signatures under it, and was a member of the so-called Pilsen Initiative. He was repeatedly detained for these activities by secret police.
He was one of the founding members of the Civic Forum after November 1989.
František Wiendl (*31 December 1923 in Klatovy)
During the Second World War, Frantisek Wiendl, together with his father and other members of the resistance group Lidice, participated in resistance activities such as providing financial and material support to the families of the imprisoned Czech patriots. They also collected weapons, spread leaflets, and then actively participated in the May uprising of Klatovy citizens against the Nazis.
After February 1948, Wiendl, together with his father and the members of the protectorate resistance group, launched diversionary actions against the Communists. The initial spontaneous writing of slogans and circulating leaflets have grown into transfers of democrats and citizens persecuted by Communists across borders, and later into the cooperation with American CIC and so called agents-walkers.
Directly or indirectly he assisted to 28 illegal cross-border transfers. For all this, he was sentenced to 18 years of hard prison and was transported to work to the uranium mines in Jáchymov. He escaped death from radiation by being transferred to Pankrác Prison, where he worked as a builder. He then worked in the construction industry until retirement.
He became a member of the Confederation of Political Prisoners and co-founded its branch in Klatovy. He has been an active member of the Czech Freedom Force Union since he applied for renewing his membership in 1993.
Patrik Štěpánek (* September 14 1993 in Plzeň, † 5 August 2018 in Bagram, Afghanistan)
In 2014 Patrik Štěpánek graduated from the School of Electrical Engineering (Information Technology) in Pilsen. In July 2015, he began preparatory military service in Vyškov and after graduation he was transferred to the 13th Artillery Regiment in Jince, where he was officially assigned as a shooter of the 132nd Artillery Guard. In January 2017, he became a member of the 2nd Mechanized Company of the 42nd Mechanized Battalion in Tábor and was appointed a shooter, later a shooter-operator.
In April 2018, he left as a senior shooter of the 1st Guard Cooperative of the 10th Guard Company BAF to Afghanistan for his first and at the same time last foreign operation. He succumbed to injuries suffered in an attack of a suicide bomber near the Bagram Base.
Patrik Štěpánek was posthumously promoted on August 5, 2018 to the rank of Staff Officer and awarded the Cross of Defence of the State. On October 28, 2018, the President of the Czech Republic awarded him the Medal for Heroism.
The author of the Honorary Plaque of the President of the Pilsen Region for courageous civic attitudes is doc. M.A. Petr Vogel. The plaque has a diameter of 70 mm, weighs 169 g and is made of fine silver 999/000. The front of the plaque shows a portrait of Jan Palach with the words "JAN PALACH 1948-1969", and the reverse side depicts the emblem of the Pilsen Region and the words "HONORARY PLAQUE OF THE PRESIDENT OF PILSEN REGION FOR COURAGEOUS CIVIC ATTITUDES".