Milada Horáková: A Symbol of Democracy and Freedom - People in Prague #4

If you look back through Czech history the majority of the characters you encounter are male. Indeed, if you look at Jiri Votruba’s hero’s of Prague poster the only female is the legendary Princess Libuse. The remaining characters are all male, apart from the Golem! 

This year, amidst the lockdowns and restriction of movement, the people and city of Prague did celebrate a national heroine on the 70th anniversary of her death. Her name is Milada Horáková and she was born in Prague on Christmas Day, 1901. She was executed by the Czechoslovakian communist regime on 27th June1950, the only female politician to suffer that fate.

Posters were put up on many public buildings.
The caption means 'murdered by communists'

Milada Horáková was an extraordinary woman, who, like many of her era suffered as a result of the injustice of two nightmares; first the Nazi invasion and occupation, and subsequently the communist takeover in 1948. 

She grew up during the first world war, and her first action led to her expulsion from school in 1917 for taking part in an anti-war rally. Despite that early setback, she received a law degree from the Charles University in 1926 and joined the ČSNS (Democratic Socialist Party) that same year. As the second world war broke out she joined the underground resistance and was arrested by the Gestapo in 1940 and interred in Terezín transit camp where she was tortured. Four years later she was sentenced to a further eight years imprisonment by a German court for her political activities and sent to the concentration camp at Ainach in Bavaria, narrowly escaping the death penalty which the Nazi prosecutor had demanded. She was released in April 1945 by US troops.

After the war, she rejoined ČSNS and served as a Member of Parliament until resigning in 1948 as the communists seized power. Under constant surveillance by the secret police, she was arrested in September 1949 along with twelve of her colleagues. They were all charged with treason and conspiracy, and subjected to intense interrogation and torture. On 31st May 1950,  a massive show trial was kicked off with the assistance of prosecutors from Moscow. There was only ever going to be one outcome.

She was sentenced to death on the 8th June 1950 along with three co-defendants and despite petitions from Churchill, Einstein, and Eleanor Roosevelt amongst other prominent people, the sentence was not changed. She was hanged in Pankrác prison in Prague, aged 48. Her remains were never returned to her family, and have since vanished.

An empty grave marker in Vysehrad cemetery

In 1968, during the Prague Spring, the verdict from the trial was annulled but Milada Horáková was not completely exonerated until after the Velvet Revolution in 1989. The street Milady Horákové in Letna, Prague 6 was renamed in her honour in 1990 and in 1991 she was posthumously awarded the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1st Class). A film of her life was released in 2017, called simply “Milada”. Since 2004 the Czech Republic has used the date of her execution as “Commemoration Day for the Victims of the Communist Regime” across the whole country.  

A small monument was also built in Pětikostelní square
near the Czech parliament building in 2018

In her final letter to her daughter Jana, on the eve of her execution, Milada wrote: “Life is hard, it does not pamper anybody … but don’t let it defeat you. Decide to fight. Have courage and clear goals, and you will win over life”. 

Prague Landmarks #8 - Memorial to the Victims of Communism

I have to confess that during my association with Prague I've not spent anywhere near as much time exploring the western embankment of the Vltava and its environs. Of course I've made numerous trips up to the castle, I've spent plenty of time in the cafes and restaurants of Malá Strana, and enjoyed some good walks up on the Letna plateau and on Petřín  Hill.

But there's a lot more going on in this area, and on my most recent visit I started to try and rectify my omission, and I'll continue to do so in the future.

If you're staying on the east bank, a common walk is to go over Most Legií from the National Theatre, and maybe drop down onto Shooter's Island (Střelecký ostrov ) and look out over the Charles Bridge. Most people will then continue over the bridge and turn right at the end and head down towards Kampa.

But if you continue straight ahead, along Vitèzná, and down to Újzed at the bottom of Petřín Hill, you'll look up and see the Memorial to the Victims of Communism. The monument consists of a series of seven bronze figures (or partial figures) descending a flight of stairs. It was unveiled  22nd May 2002 to commemorate, some twelve years later, the victims of the communist regime between 1948 and 1989.

        

A plate at the base of the monument gives the estimated details of the numbers of people directly affected during those years:

• 205,486 arrested
• 170,938 forced into exile
• 4,500 died in prison
• 327 shot trying to escape
• 248 executed

A nearby plaque reads:

"The memorial to the victims of communism is dedicated to all victims not only those who were jailed or executed but also those whose lives were ruined by totalitarian despotism"

The whole memorial was the work of the Czech sculptor Olbram Zoubek, and the architects Jan Kerel and Zdeněk Holzel, and has caused considerable controversy since its erection. In 2003 two bomb blasts damaged one of the statues, but no group has ever claimed responsibility.

I had previously seen the monument in daylight (albeit a very damp, gloomy November day) but only recently visited it after dark where it has an eerie glow making it even more disturbing.

Memorial to the Victims Of Communism