It was Uhl who, in November 1989, relayed the rumor to Western and independent media that an anti-government demonstration in Prague had killed one person. That news turned out to be a lie, but Uhl took the message for granted. Fake news or not: a popular anger ignited.
It turned out to be the starting signal for the Velvet Revolution. Protesting students took to the streets, major strikes shut down factories and offices. The communist regime of Czechoslovakia saw no option but to sit down with dissidents, leading to a nonviolent political revolution, followed three years later by the peaceful separation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
In the newly free Czech Republic, Uhl helped build democracy as director of the Czech news agency ČTK. He also held various positions as a human rights officer, drawing attention to the deprivation of the Roma in the country. At the beginning of this century, he sat for several years in parliament on behalf of the Green Party.
Dedicated
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala praised Uhl on Twitter for his “courage and perseverance in the fight against totalitarianism”. Former dissident Dana Nemcova describes him as a “devoted, hard-working man who accepted everyone”.
Uhl has been awarded several Czech titles, as well as high Polish, German and French awards. However, he did not want to exaggerate his role in modern Czech history itself. For example, he wrote in his memoirs, “I did what I thought was right.”
–
