Professor, Ing. Přemek Neumann

Professor Přemek Neumann was born in Jičín in a mixed Christian-Jewish family. His father came from a Catholic family, his mother from a Jewish family. She formally converted to Catholicism. Mr. Neumann was raised, however, in a non-religious environment. During the war, his mother was subject to the Nuremberg laws, she had to wear a Jewish star. The racial laws affected the young Přemek personally only in 1942, when he was expelled from grammar school. He started an apprenticeship as an electrician, he finished it, however, only after the war. In the summer of 1944 he was placed in a forced-labor camp in Bystřice u Benešova. This camp was designated for Jewish half-breeds and other unreliable Aryans. The camp was guarded by German soldiers and was located close to the Neveklov training grounds of the Wehrmacht. Přemek Neumann spent more then ten months in this camp. In May 1945 he walked back to his birthplace Jičín, where he finished his studies at the grammar school and in 1947 he started to study at the Electro-technical faculty of the ČVUT (The Czech Higher School of Technological Studies). Even before he finished his studies, he received an employment offer from the school, which he accepted. He has been working in Dejvice at the FEL ČVUT. As he wasn't a member of the Communist party, his career growth was blocked. His standing was rehabilitated in the Prague spring and he eventually became a professor in the nineties.

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