Jan Urban (born 27 March 1951) is a Czech journalist, lecturer and former politician. He is known for leading the

Civic Forum The Civic Forum (, OF) was a political movement in the Czech part of Czechoslovakia, established during the Velvet Revolution in 1989. The corresponding movement in Slovakia was called Public Against Violence ( – VPN). The Civic Forum's purpo ...

movement to victory in the

1990 Czechoslovak parliamentary election Federal elections were held in Czechoslovakia on 8 and 9 June 1990,Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p471 alongside elections for the Czech and Slovak Assemblies.Nohlen & Stöver, p472 They were t ...

, the first free elections in Czechoslovakia in 44 years.

Life and career

Urban was born on 27 March 1951 in

Hradec Králové Hradec Králové (; ) is a city of the Czech Republic. It has about 94,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Hradec Králové Region. The historic centre of Hradec Králové is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech R ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. He graduated from

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

in 1974 with a degree in philosophy and history. He worked as a high school teacher until being removed due to refusing to sign a collective statement condemning

Charter 77 Charter 77 (''Charta 77'' in Czech language, Czech and Slovak language, Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members ...

. He subsequently worked as a

horse trainer A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' physical needs, as well as teaching them good behaviors and/or coaching them for events, which ...

and

bricklayer A bricklayer, which is related to but different from a mason, is a craftsperson and tradesperson who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The terms also refer to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of maso ...

, as well as a journalist with ''

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

'', and founded the underground East European Information Agency. Urban participated in the 17 November 1989 demonstrations that began the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution () or Gentle Revolution () was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Pa ...

, and subsequently helped start the students' and theater workers' strikes. He was a cofounder of

, a movement which sought to overthrow the ruling

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Com ...

, and worked closely with future president

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and dissident. Havel served as the last List of presidents of Czechoslovakia, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissol ...

. Urban led Civic Forum in the

, which Civic Forum won with a large margin. He declined to become

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

and resigned from politics the same year. Afterwards, Urban continued to work as a journalist and lecturer. He is the author of three books and a play, and also shot a documentary.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urban, Jan 1951 births Living people People from Hradec Králové People of the Cold War People of the Velvet Revolution Czechoslovak democracy activists Czechoslovak dissidents Charles University alumni Czech activists Czech anti-communists Czech journalists Civic Forum politicians 20th-century Czech politicians 21st-century Czech people Czech lecturers