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Grusa was persecuted by the communist regime for his novel "Mimner" in 1969 and arrested for his novel "The Questionnaire" in 1978.
He signed the 1977 anti-communist manifesto, Charter 77, in protest against the totalitarian regime which ruled the former Czechoslovakia between 1948-1989.
His death shocked his fellow Charter 77 signatory, anti-communist icon Vaclav Havel, former Czechoslovak and Czech president.
"I'm shocked by the sudden death of Jiri Grusa, my friend and colleague of many years," Havel said in a statement.
After winning a literary scholarship in the United States in 1980, Grusa was stripped of Czechoslovak citizenship and became a citizen of West Germany.
He regained Czechoslovak citizenship in 1990, a year after communism was toppled.
In the 1990s, Grusa embarked on a diplomatic and political career, serving as the Czechoslovak and then Czech ambassador to Germany and Austria and later as the Czech Republic's education minister.
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He signed the 1977 anti-communist manifesto, Charter 77, in protest against the totalitarian regime which ruled the former Czechoslovakia between 1948-1989.
His death shocked his fellow Charter 77 signatory, anti-communist icon Vaclav Havel, former Czechoslovak and Czech president.
"I'm shocked by the sudden death of Jiri Grusa, my friend and colleague of many years," Havel said in a statement.
After winning a literary scholarship in the United States in 1980, Grusa was stripped of Czechoslovak citizenship and became a citizen of West Germany.
He regained Czechoslovak citizenship in 1990, a year after communism was toppled.
In the 1990s, Grusa embarked on a diplomatic and political career, serving as the Czechoslovak and then Czech ambassador to Germany and Austria and later as the Czech Republic's education minister.
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