“In 1945 I enrolled in the newly reopened Faculty of Arts, Charles University, where I studied English, Czech and also Philosophy as the subject of the so called professorship. I taught at gymnasiums. My first stop was at Sokolovo gymnasium in Prague 8 and later (František) Drtina gymnasium where my political odyssey began. It was my first political expulsion. I was not allowed to teach. Since I wasn’t teaching I had other jobs. I worked as a forestry laborer and in agriculture. Thanks to a friend I managed to get a job at a secondary school for working adults run by ČKD, a large state-owned company. I met many interesting people there, for example the young Lobkowicz (an aristocrat), who was not allowed to study anywhere else.“
„I was a rebel and said to myself that this does not work for me personally. I didn’t like extremes, left or right. There were many people like that in the past. It is difficult to explain. We followed (T.G.) Masaryk, but I admit we did not know many things about him. That was the state of things in this country. We rebelled, but we did not know why. Our nationalist sentiment was clear – it (coexistence) was not possible with the Germans. I also have to say that I flirted with the communists and even cooperated with them, but later they decided I was not the right fit and was blacklisted by them as well.“
“I did not want to answer to German youths at the official organization (Board of Trustees for the Education of Youth [1942-1945]) and it was possible to avoid it. Instead, I had contacts within the defunct Scouting movement. I would be lying if I said that we founded an illegal Scouting organization. We just wanted to live in alignment with Scouting ideals and we had no organization. Organized (and illegal) Scouting took place later during the communist era under the leadership of Dr. Křivský. I contributed to the Scouting movement for three to four years. I wrote articles for their publication. It was not a magazine but a samizdat. We changed the title of the publication often, at one time it was called Napřed (Ahead). Many of the people from the organization ended up in prison. I was lucky that was not my case, but Jiří Pilka, Jiří Navrátil, a former scout who recently passed away and whose high-profile funeral was conducted by another Scout – František Lobkowicz. The illegal organization had many members.“
“I wrote about what drew my interest at any given moment or what I thought deserved more attention. This kept changing just like the overall direction. I am more known for my literary work than for Scouting. Some Scouts remember me for my Scouting past as well as from camping. I wrote under the pen name Tomáš Šobr and published my work in a number of publications, but I was discovered. By that time the communist regime was feeble enough that I wasn’t punished, but they made certain I wasn’t going to write under another new name.”
Zdeněk Janík was born in Brno on October 7, 1923. His father, Zdeněk Sr, was a civil engineer. His mother’s name was Hedvika. During WWII, Zdeněk Jr, lived in the town of Písek where he also graduated from a gymnasium. After that he worked at a labor office and also in agriculture towards the end of the war. His recollection of liberation in May 1945 is from Březnice where he helped US Army soldiers as an interpreter. In 1945 he began his studies at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University. He studied Czech, English and philosophy and he finished his studies already while working. Until the beginning of the 1950s he was permitted to teach at gymnasiums in Prague. Due to his political opinions and his history with Pavel Křivský and the Scouting movement (illegal at that time), he was sentenced to life in a show trial. In the 1950s he worked as a forestry laborer and in the 1960s he taught at a night school as well as working as an editor at Učitelské noviny (a periodical for teachers). After the invasion of Warsaw Pact armies he could no longer publish his work. He worked as a proofreader at a printing company and wrote under the pen name Tomáš Šobr. His verse and feature writing was translated into several languages and won literary prizes. Zdeněk Janík is a member of the PEN club and Association of Writers (Obec spisovatelů). He was married to the historian Věra Kovářová. He has a son. His brother was a doctor and obstetrician. Zdeněk Janík died in 2023.
