Either we will tolerate them, or we will swear at them. That’s all there is to do in politics
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Jaroslav Jirmus was born into a farming family on 18 April 1945 in Velenice, Nymburk district. As a young boy he observed what was happening in the countryside. It shaped his lifelong negative attitude towards the communists. Because of them, he was not able to study the field he wanted. At the agricultural secondary school, his classmate and roommate was the later communist functionary Miroslav Štěpán, with whom he maintained close relations until his death. After the military sevice served in Rakovník, which he partly spent as a semi-professional football player of Sport Club Rudá hvězda Kněževes, he returned to his native Velenice and started working in the local cooperative farm. He also helped his uncle Jaroslav Šukal, a farmer, who resisted joining the cooperative farm for a long time. He had two children with his wife, whom he met on the morning of 21 August 1968. He continued his football career. Thanks to his abilities and despite the absence of a party book, he moved up the career ladder. However, he says to have often been deprived of financial reward for his views and on one occasion his career rise was halted. When he was feeling low, he used to go to private conversations with a priest in the next village. He was a believer all his life. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, he started farming as a private farmer, partly on reclaimed family land, and most of it acquired by rent. However, small owners often sold their small fields to larger farmers. Jaroslav Jirmus‘ grandson also continues the family tradition of farming.
