Petr Placák is a Czech journalist, historian and significant political activist before 1989. He is the son of Bedřich Placák, a spokesman for Charter 77. He played clarinet in the underground music group “The Plastic People of the Universe” (PPU) between 1982 and 1986. He was kept under surveillance by the State Security (StB), worked as a blue-collar worker and published samizdat volumes. In 1988, he founded the opposition initiative “České děti” (Czech Children) – the initiative presented a monarchist programme, shocking at that time, and various forms of humorous protests. Placák was one of the organisers of the demonstrations commemorating the 20th anniversary of the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968. He was sentenced to a suspended sentence because of his activities during “Palach’s week” in January 1989 (a week-long succession of demonstrations to commemorate Jan Palach’s self-immolation in 1969). Between 1989 and 1990, he was active in the Coordination Centre of the Civic Forum. Placák co-founded the monarchist movement “Koruna česká” (Czech Crown) after 1989. He works as a journalist and is editor-in-chief of the cultural and social revue “Babylon”. His essay “Fízl” (2007) reflects on his personal experience of StB repression and examines the psychological aspects of life under a dictatorship, which was awarded the Czech “Magnesia Litera” book prize in 2008. He has published some of his works under his pen name Petr Zmrzlík.