Oldřich Ježek (1931–2020)
Life and Career
Oldřich Ježek was born in 1931 in Frýdek in northern Moravia. His father was a French legionnaire. The family briefly lived in Karviná and from the early 1930s in Subcarpathian Ruthenia in the town of Slatina, today Solotvyno in Ukraine. On 15 March 1939 the family had to flee from the advancing Hungarian army. Travelling through Romania, Yugoslavia, Vienna and Moravia, they eventually reached the region of Náchod, where his father came from. He soon obtained a position as a canteen manager in the Příbram area, where the family spent the years of the German occupation.
After the end of the war the family moved to Jáchymov. From August 1945 his father ran the restaurant U Ferdy in the Lidový dům. Oldřich Ježek completed his secondary education in the town and graduated in 1949. He then studied at the University of Education in Prague. Already during his studies he began working as a teacher – in 1950 he taught in Krásný Les, the following year in Ostrov, and later during his studies also in Suchá and Horní Žďár.
After returning from compulsory military service in 1957 he started working as deputy headmaster at the new school in Husova Street in Jáchymov. In 1968 he became the headmaster of the school. However, in 1969 he had to leave the education system because he had signed the reform manifesto Manifest 2000 slov. He then worked in Ostrov, first in the Jitona company and later in the Škoda engineering works.
Connection with Jáchymov
He was able to return to public life and to the teaching profession only in the 1980s. After 1980 he became the chronicler of Jáchymov and at the same time worked again as a teacher. He served as the town chronicler until 2006 and systematically recorded the events and changes in the town.
After the political changes of 1989 he also returned to school leadership. In 1990 he was once again appointed headmaster of the elementary school in Jáchymov. He remained in this position until 1992, when he retired.
Legacy and Remembrance
Oldřich Ježek was one of the people who devoted much of their life to documenting the history of the town. He was a co-author of the book Jáchymov – město stříbra, radia a léčivé vody and also participated in the publication Jáchymov prepared for the municipal cultural centre. He regularly wrote about the town’s history in the municipal newsletter, and his texts later became part of the book Zápisník jáchymovského kronikáře. He also authored numerous articles and lectures devoted to the history of Jáchymov.
He was married and had three daughters. After a long illness he died on 9 September 2020.
