(1901-1950)
Milada Horáková, lawyer, politician, fighter for women’s rights, a woman with a strong social sense. During World War II, she was a member of the resistance movement, harshly interrogated by the Gestapo. She was imprisoned in Prague for two years and in Terezín concentration camp afterwards. Following the liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945, she joined the leadership of the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party and was elected a member of parliament. Her political activities focused on enhancing the role of women in society and preserving Czechoslovakia’s democratic institutions. Shortly after the communist coup of 1948, she resigned from the parliament in protest. Unlike many of her political associates, she chose not to leave Czechoslovakia and continued to be politically active in Prague. In September 1949, she was arrested and accused of being the leader of an alleged plot to overthrow the communist regime. During a staged trial, she was named as one of the main conspirators and sentenced to death. Despite the interventions of a number of prominent figures like Winston Churchill, Bertrand Russell, Eleanore Roosevelt or Albert Einstein, she was executed in June 1950. She was the only woman who became a victim of communist political processes.