Background
He was born in Prague into the family of a bank officer
He was born in Prague into the family of a bank officer
After passing his maturita he studied philosophy and aesthetics at Charles University (1945–1949).
While at high school in Prague during World World War II he was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in Pečkárna and Pankrác. From 1942 he worked in a bookstore, and at the end of the war he was employed at publisher V. Petr. In the early 1950s he worked as a corrector at the Communist Rudé právo newspaper.
After 1953 he worked a lathe in Liberec and Prague-Kbely.
In the 1960s he was an editor at Mladá fronta publishing house. In the aftermath of the Prague Spring, he emigrated to West Germany in 1969 and worked for Radio Free Europe.
He lived in Munich.