22.01.2026

It is Rudi Vesely’s last day. At least in his job as a gatekeeper at the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Research Neutron Source (FRM II). For seven years, he has been handing out keys, opening the barrier, and issuing visitor passes. It’s a job with a lot of responsibility—one that Rudi Vesely has handled with ease after studying construction and pharmacy, working as a TV editor, and writing books.

He sits bolt upright in his office swivel chair, looking through the bulletproof glass of the gate at the entrance to the neutron source, reacting to the buzzing of the system that tells him someone has checked out. One eye on the first screen with data, the other on the camera recording at the exit turnstile, his fingers on the console with the buttons for the barrier or the door next to the turnstile.

Check out, please
A silver Audi has stopped in front of the barrier. The scientist inside wants to leave the research reactor site. “Have you signed out, sweetheart?” Rudi Vesely asks himself, looking at the monitor, and immediately answers his own question: “No, you haven’t.” He jumps up energetically, opens the security door, and steps outside into the frosty winter afternoon wearing a white short-sleeved shirt. He has already closed the barrier that was originally raised as a precaution. “You still have to sign out,” he calls to his colleague in the silver Audi on the other side of the barrier, making the movements with his right hand to pull the card through the reader in case she doesn’t hear him.

Escape from Czechoslovakia
Rudi Vesely’s actual goal was to go to Canada or Australia when he fled Czechoslovakia in 1982. The 24-year-old did not want to join the military in his homeland under any circumstances, which was what awaited him after completing his civil engineering studies.

The cherry pitter
“And then I stayed in Germany,” says Rudi Vesely with a shrug. He studied pharmacy at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. On the side, he worked on the TV show Dalli Dalli as a straw candidate for show host Hans Rosenthal, rehearsing his lines with the celebrities. Rudi Vesely caused a stir with his blunt, creative approach. When asked what he, who was supposed to impersonate race car driver Niki Lauda, had done before becoming a race car driver, he replied, instead of the given text: “I used to be a cherry pitter.” The production manager was horrified, but show host Rosenthal was delighted: “I want him on the show from now on, he challenges me! That could happen to me on the show too, and I want to be prepared.”

Assigning 150 keys to their owners
As he talks, Rudi Vesely busily collects piles of keys from colleagues who are leaving work for the day. He eagerly slides open the drawer under the security glass before they even have a chance to take out their key rings. A total of 240 keys are collected at the gate at the start of the working day and handed in at the end. “I can match names and faces to about 150 of them,” says Rudi Vesely proudly. “See you tomorrow,” says a young lady as she leaves. Vesely laughs, calls out loudly, “Ciao!” and then says to himself, “See you tomorrow? Yeah, maybe you will.”

Audiobook with Sven Hannawald: Together with the ski jumper, Rudi Vesely (right) presented his biography as director in 2013. © Abod Verlag

Audiobook with Sven Hannawald: Together with the ski jumper, Rudi Vesely (right) presented his biography as director in 2013. © Abod Verlag

In film and television
After Rosenthal’s untimely death, it was easy for Vesely to start working as a freelancer at München TV, then still called TV Weiß-Blau, and later even as editor-in-chief for news, as he recounts. This was followed by work as a writer for the hidden camera show with Fritz Egner, directing audiobooks, and assignments from TV.

From audiobook publisher to security guard
Most recently, Rudi Vesely was co-owner and director of an audiobook publishing company. There, he didn’t want to “lie to customers,” as he says, and had to leave the company. So, the job at the security company Securitas in 2019 came at just the right time. Rudi Vesely initially worked as a temp at the gate of the radiochemistry department at the Technical University of Munich and as a guard directly in the FRM II reactor building. Then, he was in charge of the FRM II locking system, and finally, he ended up at the gate. “I like it here. The work isn’t that interesting, but you constantly meet very interesting people here,” says Rudi Vesely.

Farewell to colleagues
A colleague from the FRM II reactor team has stopped in front of the thick glass pane, looking sad, the corners of his mouth turned down: “Rudi, I heard today is your last day…” “But I’ll live on,” replies Rudi Vesely with a mischievous grin. And so, his colleague can smile again.

“I’ve never had a boss like that before.”
Why did he enjoy working at FRM II? “Because I get to work with intelligent people here.” His best experience at the research neutron source? Rudi Vesely doesn’t have to think long: “The technical director invited me to one of his concerts last year.” Dr. Axel Pichlmaier plays the saxophone in a big band. “I’ve never had a boss like that before,” Rudi Vesely enthuses: “He comes to work every day by bike, rain or shine, and treats everyone the same, no matter where they come from or what they do, whether they’re a professor or a doorman.”

His own songs on Spotify
In addition to his work in television, Rudi Vesely began writing books. These included medical bedtime stories in 2016, together with the physician Dr. Max Karner. In “Dr. Mercurius’ Healing Journey to Planet Earth,” a little green man explains in a child-friendly way how to treat a wasp sting on the tongue or how to treat dirty wounds. Rudi Vesely has also recently joined Spotify. He has released his own songs there under the pseudonyms “Dr. Mercurius” and “Sister Bell.”

His role model works at 83 and jogs along the Isar
What fascinated him about FRM II was the enthusiasm and commitment of the people at work. His great role model is an 83-year-old who still comes to the FRM II site every day. “I saw him jogging along the Isar on Sundays. In stormy weather and rain!” says Rudi Vesely, impressed.
So, what has Rudi Vesely planned for his retirement? “We’ll see,” he says with a grin. Maybe he’ll write lyrics for a musical. In any case, he won’t stop working. “My grandfather also worked until he was 86.”