Pavel Marek

Pavel Marek was born on March 4, 1929 in Prague. His parents divorced when he was two years old, and he moved with his mother to his grandparents in Velvary. Here he attended primary school and in 1940–1948 studied at the Velvary grammar school. After the war, he founded a scout unit in Velvary, with which he organized four scout camps before the Communists banned him in 1948. In October of the same year he was sent to a forced labour camp in Kladno-Dubí, and worked in the company Poldovka for almost a year. After returning home, he had a hard time finding work, he was only allowed to do the lowly one. In 1950, he was accepted to a university, where he studied veterinary medicine. In 1952, he was taken to Slovakia for obligatory military service to the Auxiliary Technical Battalions (PTP), built roads and dug coal in Karviná. After returning from the army he was not allowed to finish school. He married in 1957, had a daughter in 1961, and divorced four years later. In 1965, he began distance learning at a university, an agricultural engineer, which he successfully completed five years later. He recalls the time of the Prague Spring and the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops in August 1968. In the same year, he convened a congress of former members of the PTP in Žofín. He first got a job at Koospol, where he sold horses all the way to England, and later worked at Velaz. In 1989, he took part in demonstrations during Palach’s week, as well as in November on Wenceslas Square and Letná. In Velvary, he was involved in the Civic Forum, he was unable to rebuild the scout unit. He was again involved in organizations associating former members of the PTP. In the 1990s, he unsuccessfully ran for the ODS in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. He lives in Velvary with his third wife.