Peter Kysel Livres

""You are an enemy of the state,"" my teacher, Comrade Novak, told me flatly. We were in a classroom at the Prague 5 Elementary School, a large, new building on the hill above Hlubocepy Village that stood as a showcase of the Communist regime. Teachers there were selected for their loyalty. I was 13 years old and about to complete my eight years of compulsory education. When my comrade teacher had asked me to stay behind in the classroom, I'd expected to be praised for my good exam results. Instead, I stood before him, stunned by his unexpected outburst and transfixed by his face, which was suddenly contorted with hate. I was so scared that I went rigid, unable to respond. Children were taught that the regime was ruthless to its enemies - of which, it seemed, I was now one.

Peter Kysel grew up in interesting times. Born into a wealthy Czech family at the tail end of the Second World War, he witnessed his parents lose everything as the iron curtain descended and their high-flying fashion business was confiscated. As a young boy, Peter was a convinced socialist, ready to lay down his life for the red flag of his local pioneer group, but despite his personal commitment to the regime, the political sins of his father – a successful capitalist – saw him labelled an ‘enemy of the state’. As a young man, Peter made the most of life in Czechoslovakia. He began modelling for a state-owned clothes company, and scored small parts in a few local movies. But somehow, his blemished political record – and the compromises of living in a totalitarian state – would always come back to spoil things for him. Eventually, as the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia in the summer of 1968, Peter saw his own way to escape – even if that meant leaving behind everything he knew, and everyone he loved, to start a new life in the West.