Jan Beneš ( writer ) Jan Beneš ( March 26 , 1936 – June 1 , 2007 ) was a Czech writer , translator , publicist and screenwriter . He was also using pseudonyms Milan Štěpka , Bobisud Mihule , Mojmír Čada , Ing . Čada , JAB , JeBe , Světlana and others . He is an author of many novels and several historical books . He was a political prisoner of Czechoslovak communist regime , and a Green Beret volunteer . In 1969 after the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia Beneš emigrated to United States . He served 20 years at the US Department of Defense . He returned to Czech Republic in 1992 after the change of regime . Early life . Prior to his birth , Beneš ' father Bohumil , participated in the liberation of Czechoslovakia as a member of the Russian Legions during World War I . Bohumil Beneš then worked on the new nation ' s defenses but in 1938 Czechoslovakia handed over the Sudetenland territory to Nazi Germany without a fight . Bohumil then turned his efforts towards fighting the Nazi occupation . On 11 September 1943 , 7 year old Jan ' s maternal grandfather , Wenzel Kraft , was executed by the Nazis . At the end of the war , the February 1948 Communist coup in Russia lead to Czechoslovakia becoming one of the communist Eastern bloc nations . Jan Beneš graduated from United High School in 1951 after all secondary grammar schools were closed due to the Nejedly ’ s communist school reform . In 1955 , Jan Beneš finished his studies at the Academy of Beaux Arts . Two of his school projects were later placed into the Czechoslovak exposition at EXPO 1958 in Brussels , and rewarded . But , he was not allowed to go there and get the prize . Career . In 1956 , Jan Beneš was recruited to the paratroop unit and served his obligatory military service . In the end of this service , in 1958 , he was arrested and sentenced to 25 months for undermining of combat moral of the troops , interference with political education of the troops , illegal arming , and stealing military underwear . He served this sentence mostly in uranium mine Bytiz in Příbram region . This experience was a real eye - opener for a young son of a career officer . Jan Beneš wrote Second Breath , a book about this communistic concentration camp , in 1963 . Ideological Department of the ÚV KSČ ( Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ) banned its publication in 1964 . Finally it was published in the United States by Orion Press N . Y . in 1969 . During the sixties , while he was working as a stage technician in the Prague Puppet Theatre , he managed to publish novels " Do vrabců jako když střelí ( Shooting into the Sparrows ) " and " Situace ( Situations ) " . Jan Beneš started to write for exile magazine " Svědectví ( Testimony ) " . Book of novels " Disproporce ( Disproportion ) " was published in 1965 , but banned because of his upcoming arrest . His family was expelled from the officer ’ s house because of action B – Bourgeoisie . The family lived in a squat in Prague , close to the river Vltava . In 1966 , Jan Beneš married Šárka Šefranková . After collecting more than 300 signatures on a petition against the imprisonment of the Russian writers Sinyavski and Daniel , he was held 11 months in custody . He was arrested ten days after the wedding , for the crime of treason - subversion of the socialistic social and state system , and an attempt for deceit . According to H Schwarz ’ s " 200 Days in Prague " , the ill - famed trial Tigrid – Beneš – Zámečník , and involvement of the head of the state and the Communistic Party in fact launched the events of the Prague Spring . Lawyer of the Amnesty International , Dr . Sieghart , was expelled from Czechoslovakia during Beneš ’ s trial . Pregnant Sarka was brutally interrogated by the StB . Pressure on the family was immense . Beneš was sentenced for 5 years in prison , but was released on March 22 , 1968 , due to the amnesty of president Novotný , as the last political prisoner in Czechoslovakia . In 1968 , after the Soviet invasion , Jan and Šárka Beneš emigrated from Czechoslovakia to France . They returned in January 1969 , during the Palach ’ s week , to support the public resistance against the Soviet invasion . In October 1969 , after massive wave of emigration , Czechoslovak government eventually invalidated all passports and closed the borders . Jan Beneš was informed that he would be arrested again . " My Father did not Fall for Anything " , " Triangle with Madonna " , and " After you slept with me you will cry " were published at this time . Jan Beneš worked in various blue - collar jobs , for example in crane maintenance for Danly Machine Corporation , before he became a Research Fellow in International House at Harvard University in 1972 . After the beginning of the War in Vietnam Jan Beneš tried to join the US Armed Forces , but was refused as too old for regular service . In 1974 he started to work for the Department of Defense , the Defense Language Institute , at Foreign Language Center in Montery , California , as a teacher of Czech language , geography and history . He went through all the training with the Green Berets as a volunteer and participated in many missions , mostly abroad . After the Velvet Revolution , Jan Beneš returned to Czechoslovakia . In 1992 , it was too late to influence the chain of events after the series of too velvet takeovers , because the handover of power was already done . Jan Bene published his principal books such as " Crime of Genocide " , " Indolence " , " American Causerie " , " Marked by Darkness " , " Dead is My Godmother " , and " Time smells by Dreams " . In his life , he had published almost 3000 articles in various newspapers . Jan Beneš never gave up his work for democracy and freedom . His , ill - famed detention in March 2001 and subsequent trial with BIS officer Vladimír Hučín , became the breaking point , where Czech justice system was tested . Sir Martin Gilbert mentioned Jan Beneš ’ influence on the events during the Prague Spring and formation of Czechoslovak dissent in his “ History of the Twentieth Century ” .