Vladimír Bystrov (7 August 1935 – 1 June 2010) was a Czech journalist, film critic, commentator and translator.
This had a great effect upon the young Bystrov's life, as he eventually became the chairman of the “Oni byli prvni”, or, “They Were the First” Committee, an organization founded by the few survivors and the descendants of Czechoslovak citizens abducted to the Soviet Union who helped document the fates of Russian and Ukrainian immigrants who were taken by force to the said camps.
After the collapse of the communist regime in November 1989, he returned to journalism, writing mainly political commentaries and historical essays.
[3] In 2008, he was made a Rudolf Medek Award (in Czech: Cena Rudolfa Medka) laureate.
The Abductions of Czechoslovak Citizens to the Soviet Union between 1945 and 1955, written by Bystrov, is available free of charge from that office.