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Milada HorakovaCzechoslovakian politician and public figure
Date of Birth: 25.12.1901
Country: ![]() |
Content:
- Biography of Milada Horáková
- Early Life
- Political Activism
- Post-War Career
- Persecution and Execution
- Rehabilitation and Legacy
Biography of Milada Horáková
Milada Horáková, born Kralova, was a Czechoslovak politician and public figure. She was executed by the communist authorities of Czechoslovakia after a fabricated trial. Her name has become one of the symbols of the victims of communist repression in modern Czech Republic.

Early Life
Milada Horáková was born in Prague in 1901. She received a good education, graduating from the Law Faculty of Prague University. She was fluent in three foreign languages.
Political Activism
In 1928, she married Dr. Bohuslav Horák, a scientist, and a year later they both joined the National Socialist Party. During World War II and the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, Horáková participated in underground anti-fascist activities. In 1940, she was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to the Terezin concentration camp. In 1944, she was transferred to a prison in Dresden, where she was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment. She was released after the end of the war.
Post-War Career
Horáková was elected as a member of parliament and became the head of the Czechoslovak Women's Council. She also participated in the work of the International Federation of Democratic Women and led her country's delegation to the International Congress of Women in Paris.
Persecution and Execution
After the communists came to power in 1948, political purges started in the country. Horáková was encouraged to leave for the West, but she chose to stay in the country. On September 27, 1949, she was arrested on charges of "bourgeois nationalism" and "preparation of a sabotage conspiracy". The trial of Milada Horáková and 12 other people began on May 31, 1950. The trial received widespread coverage in the press and had a demonstrative character. All the defendants were coerced through torture and threats to follow a pre-written script during the trial. Only a few, including Horáková, had the courage to deviate from it and defend themselves firmly. On June 8, Horáková and three other defendants were sentenced to death, while the remaining defendants received long prison sentences. The news of the death sentence for Horáková caused a great resonance in the world. Many well-known figures, including Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, and Eleanor Roosevelt, appealed to save her life. However, the communist authorities upheld the sentence. On June 27, Milada Horáková was hanged in Pankrác Prison.
Rehabilitation and Legacy
During the Prague Spring, Horáková was rehabilitated, but due to the suppression of the movement, her true rehabilitation only became possible after the collapse of the communist regime in the 1990s. In 2004, the day of her execution, June 27, was declared "Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Communist Regime" in the country. Many streets and squares in Czech cities were named after Milada Horáková, and in Prague, her name was given to the former Peace Defenders Street. Interestingly, it was on this street in 1973 that Olga Hepnarová, a mentally unstable woman, committed her crime (killing 8 people with a truck). Olga Hepnarová was the last woman executed in Czechoslovakia (like Horáková, she was hanged in Pankrác Prison). In 2007, 86-year-old Ludmila Brozová-Polednová, who had served as the state prosecutor during Horáková's trial, was sentenced to 8 years in prison. The Appellate Court reduced her sentence to 6 years, but her request for a postponement of the sentence was rejected. She will serve her sentence in the same prison where Horáková was executed.