Eva Kristinová (5 August 1928 – 14 June 2020) was a Slovak actress and antifascist fighter.

Early life

She was born on 5 August 1928 in

Trenčín Trenčín (, also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is a List of towns in Slovakia, city in western Slovakia of the central Váh River valley near the Czech Republic, Czech border, around from Bratislava. It has a populati ...

. Her father Jozef Martin Kristín (1897 1970), a former member of the

Czechoslovak Legion The Czechoslovak Legion ( Czech: ''Československé legie''; Slovak: ''Československé légie'') were volunteer armed forces consisting predominantly of Czechs and Slovaks fighting on the side of the Entente powers during World War I and the ...

, was the head of the Trenčín military garrison. He was sentenced to death by the German military court for refusing to surrender military equipment to

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

, rehabilitated and promoted to the rank of brigadier general after the war and fired from the army and jailed following his refusal to join the

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Com ...

after the

1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état In late February 1948, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ), with Soviet backing, assumed undisputed control over the government of Czechoslovakia through a coup d'état. It marked the beginning of four decades of the party's rule in t ...

. Following the example of her father, Eva Kristinová herself joined the anti-fascist resistance at the age of 16, she served as a courier for the rebel forces in the

Slovak National Uprising Slovak National Uprising ( Slovak: ''Slovenské národné povstanie'', abbreviated SNP; alternatively also ''Povstanie roku 1944'', English: ''The Uprising of 1944'') was organised by the Slovak resistance during the Second World War, directed ag ...

Career

After the end of the war, due to the political persecution of her father, Eva Kristinová was not able to fulfill her plans to study acting abroad. Instead she took acting classes at the Bratislava conservatory and joined the

Slovak National Theatre The Slovak National Theater (, abbr. SND) is the oldest professional theatre in Slovakia, consisting of three ensembles: opera, ballet, and drama. Its history begins shortly after the establishment of the first Czechoslovak Republic in 1918. It ...

in 1950, where she spent her entire career spanning over nearly 40 years. She retired in 1985. In addition to theatre, she acted in a number of movies, including '' Death Is Called Engelchen'' (1963) and ''Penelope'' (1978). She also sang

chanson A (, ; , ) is generally any Lyrics, lyric-driven French song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval music, medieval and Renaissance music or to a specific style of ...

s and recited poetry.

Retirement and death

In her final years, Kristinová gradually embraced nationalism. She was the chair of

Bratislava Old Town Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

branch of

Matica slovenská Matica Slovenská (en. Slovak Matica) is the oldest Slovakia, Slovak national, Culture, cultural and scientific organization. The headquarters of Slovak Matica is the town of Martin, Slovakia as the center of the national culture of Slovak ...

, a staunch supporter of the independence of Slovakia and the autocratic rule of

Vladimír Mečiar Vladimír Mečiar (; born 26 July 1942) is a Slovak former politician who served as the prime minister of Slovakia from June 1990 to May 1991, June 1992 to March 1994, and again from December 1994 to October 1998. He was the leader of the Movemen ...

. In the late 2000s, she outright supported the far-right movement

Slovak Togetherness The Slovak Togetherness () was a civil society group in Slovakia. 'Slovenská' means "Slovak" ; 'pospolitosť' is a rather archaic word meaning "solidarity" or "community" or "togetherness". The group has been characterised as "extremist." Histor ...

, which was later banned. She also recited poetry at a

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

dedicated to

Jozef Tiso Jozef Gašpar Tiso (, ; 13 October 1887 – 18 April 1947) was a Slovaks, Slovak politician and Catholic priest who served as president of the Slovak Republic (1939–1945), First Slovak Republic, a client state of Nazi Germany during World War ...

, the president of the World War II-era

Slovak Republic Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's ...

and convicted war criminal, against whom Kristinová and her father fought in her youth. Kristinová spent her final years alone. Her only son lived abroad. She died on 14 June 2020 at the retirement home in

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

Awards

Kristinová was awarded the Order of the Slovak National Uprising, 2nd class for her role in the antifascist resistance. In 2008, the president

Ivan Gašparovič Ivan Gašparovič (; ; born 27 March 1941) is a Slovakia, Slovak politician and lawyer who was the third president of Slovakia from 2004 to 2014. He was also the first and currently the only Slovak president to be re-elected. Biography Ivan Ga� ...

awarded her the

Order of Ľudovít Štúr The Order of Ľudovít Štúr () is the third highest Slovak state decoration (after the Order of the White Double Cross and the Orders, decorations, and medals of Slovakia#Andrej Hlinka Order, Order of Andrej Hlinka) conferred by the President ...

, 1st class. This award was controversial because she was a well-known far right supporter at the time.

Personal life

Kristinová was briefly married and had a son, but divorced her husband when their child was just three years old, over his disagreement with her acting career.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kristinova, Eva 1928 births 2020 deaths People from Trenčín Slovak television actresses Slovak film actresses Slovak stage actresses 20th-century Slovak actresses Slovak fascists Slovak anti-fascists