Milan Simecka
Milan Simecka was born in 1930 in the Czech town of Novy Bohumin. Orphaned by the war, he attended university in Brno on a state stipendium, studying Russian and Czech literature. He moved to Bratislava in 1954 where he taught at the universityand then the School of Performing Arts. After the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, Simecka was dismissed from the university and his life became devoted to dissident activities and trying to maintain an independent culture. During the years of Soviet occupation he was prolific in having his articles and essays translated and published abroad. After the revolution in 1989 he headed the team of Vaclav Havel's presidential advisors, and was given special responsibility for Czech-Slovak relations. He remained at this post until his death in September 1990. Read More Read Less