Monday, October 23, 2023

Oto Mádr

ThDr. Oto Mádr, dr. h. c. (1917 –2011) was a Czech Roman Catholic priest, theologian, university professor, long-time political prisoner, and the chief editor of Theological Texts.

Mádr was arrested in May 1951 and sentenced to life imprisonment for alleged espionage for the Vatican and organization of illegal religious activity.

After release on probation in 1966, he worked in various blue-collar jobs. He returned briefly in 1968 to the Charles University School of Theology and was fully rehabilitated in 1970 (his rehabilitation was cancelled in 1975 and renewed in 1990). He was sent away to a parish in the border areas in 1970 (Dolní Žandov near Cheb), and he returned to Prague only as a pensioner in 1978.

However, he did not retire from his theological work, and was one of the main organizers of the Catholic samizdat.

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