Economist Valtr Komárek dies, aged 82

An economist and an important political figure Valtr Komárek has died in Prague at the age of 82, having been hospitalized for a number of days following heart surgery. Mr Komárek, a holocaust survivor, played an important role in the reform wing of the Communist Party during the Prague Spring in the late 1960’s, and was an active participant of the Velvet Revolution in 1989. In the mid-1960’s, Mr Komárek also served as an advisor to Che Guevara in Cuba. He was elected as an MP for the Social Democratic party in 1992, and a decade later was named the party’s honorary chairman. President Zeman, who has recently visited Mr Komárek at the hospital, said that he was one of the most important political figures in the Czech Republic since 1989.

Author: Masha Volynsky