Milada Horáková is one of the interesting feminist figures from the past century unknown to many of us. Born in Prague in 1901, Milada witnessed many major political events that shaped the history of the twentieth century including the two World Wars and the Communist regime. From an early age, she showed a great interest in politics and was expelled from school for participating in an anti-war demonstration. After her graduation, she studied law and was a strong advocate of women’s rights.
Her position in the social welfare department of the Prague city authority made her focus on social justice issues, especially when it came to women’s equal status. During the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939, Milada and her husband Bohuslav Horák were part of an underground resistance movement.
They were arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo in 1940, before being sent to prison in Germany. Four years later, she was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment but was released in 1945 when the US forces entered Bavaria. Milada returned to Prague in the same year and joined the reconstituted socialist party becoming a member of the parliament. In 1948 the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia came into power after a short coup backed by the Soviets. Milada resigned in protest and chose to stay in her country to continue her political work. She was arrested a year later and accused of conspiring with the West to overthrow the Communist regime. She was subjected to physical and psychological torture.
After her show trial in 1950, Milada was sentenced to death. Many prominent figures of the West including Einstein, Churchill and Sartre petitioned for her life but failed. Her execution was carried out using a primitive alternative of execution that took thirteen minutes to strangle her. Milada’s last words were: “"I have lost this fight but I leave with hounour.
I love this country, I love this nation, strive for their wellbeing. I depart without rancour towards you. I wish you; I wish you...”. Her conviction was annulled in 1968. She was fully rehabilitated after the fall of communism in 1990, receiving posthumously two first class awards.
The day of her execution- June 27- was declared a “Commemoration Day of the Victims of the Communist Regime” in Czech Republic. Milada’s life is depicted beautifully in a movie by the same name produced in 2017.
Written and directed by Czech director David Mrnka, the movie highlights many aspects of Milada’s eventful life including her relationship with her family. The movie is produced in English and has an international cast including Ayelet Zurer- the Israeli actress -playing Milada. Ayelet’s impersonation of Milada is remarkable, capturing all human emotions including the conflict that Milada felt between her duty towards her country and that of her family, leading at times to the unshakable feeling of guilt and questioning personal convictions.
The mother-daughter relationship is also explored, as Jana-Milada’s only daughter- would only understand her mother’s legacy much later, especially after receiving the last letters written by her-translated and published in English in real life afterwards. The music composed by Aleš Březina is haunting and so are the different scenes that change drastically from the light of open spaces to darker hues representing confinement.
The only confusing thing in the movie is the relationship between different characters which could’ve been simply explained by incorporating titles in the dialogue (by the end of the movie I discovered that Milada’s brother-in-law was actually her father!). Movies that portray women fighting and dying for their beliefs are rare and should be celebrated. Milada is available on Netflix.
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