Naďa Hejná (née Pietrová; 6 October 1906 – 8 February 1994) was a Slovak actress.

Biography

Early life and education

Naďa Hejná was born in

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

to a locally prominent family belonging to

petty nobility The petty nobility is the lower nobility classes. Finland Petty nobility in Finland is dated at least back to 13th century and was formed by nobles around their strategic interests. The idea was more capable peasants with leader roles in local c ...

. Her grandfather Ambro Pietor and father Miloš Pietor were prominent journalists. Both of her parents were amateur actors. Her brother Ivan Pietor served as a Commerce and Transportation minister between 1945 and 1948. She studied commerce in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

for a year, but abandoned her studied due to financial constrains and also to pursue acting. Following her return to Martin, she played with various amateur troupes and worked in theatre administration. In January 1944, she became an actress of the newly formed Slovenské komorné divadlo in Martin.

Fight against fascism

Upon the outbreak of the

Slovak National Uprising The Slovak National Uprising ( sk, Slovenské národné povstanie, abbreviated SNP) was a military uprising organized by the Slovak resistance movement during World War II. This resistance movement was represented mainly by the members of the ...

, Hejná applied to join the Front Theatre, a troupe established by the actor

Andrej Bagar Andrej Bagar (29 October 1900 – 31 July 1966) was a Slovak film and theatre actor and theatre director. He appeared in 16 films between 1935 and 1965. Nitra's theatre, previously known as , took his name, becoming the Andrej Bagar Theatre ...

with the aim to increase the morale of the rebels and to promote the antifascist resistance among population. Nonetheless, she was not accepted as it was considered too dangerous for a woman. Instead, she worked as a host of the rebel radio in

Banská Bystrica Banská Bystrica (, also known by other alternative names) is a middle-sized town in central Slovakia, located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica Mo ...

After the war

From 1945 to 1948, Hejná lived in Prague again for family reasons – her brother was a minister and her husband had a job in the film industry. Following the

1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état In late February 1948, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, with Soviet backing, assumed undisputed control over the government of Czechoslovakia. It marked the onset of four decades of the party's rule in the country., sk, Február 1948) or ...

, the family faced persecution. Hejná with her husband had to leave Prague and settled in a village of

Štiavnička Štiavnička is a village and municipality in Ružomberok District in the Žilina Region of northern Slovakia. History In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1505. Geography The municipality lies at an altitude of 497 metres an ...

, nearby Martin. There, she returned to acting at the Martin theatre, where she remained active until 1990. In addition to stage acting, Hejná appeared in a number of films, including ''

Marketa Lazarová ''Marketa Lazarová'' is a 1967 Czechoslovak Epic film, epic period drama directed by František Vláčil. It is an adaptation of the novel ''Marketa Lazarová (novel), Marketa Lazarová'' (1931) by Vladislav Vančura. The film takes place in the ...

'' (1967), ''

Rosy Dreams ''Rosy Dreams'' (''Ružové sny'') is a 1977 Czechoslovak film. Despite its whimsical poetic style, it was the first Central European feature film that put the Romani (Gypsy) community at the center stage in a realistically reflected manner. It w ...

'' (1977) and ''

Forget Mozart ''Forget Mozart'' (german: Vergeßt Mozart) is a 1985 West German-Czechoslovak mystery film directed by Miloslav Luther and starring Armin Mueller-Stahl, Max Tidof and Wolfgang Preiss. Following the death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a number o ...

'' (1985).

Death and legacy

Hejná died in Štiavnička on 8 February 1994 at the age of 88. She is buried at her family tomb at the

National Cemetery in Martin The National Cemetery ( sk, Národný cintorín) in Martin, Slovakia is the final resting place of many important personalities of Slovak history. The list includes writers, poets, national activists, pedagogues, etc. The reason why Martin was se ...

. A street in Martin is named after her. The

Radio and Television of Slovakia Radio and Television of Slovakia ( sk, Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska ) or RTVS is a nationwide public broadcasting, state-funded organisation in Slovakia. It is headquartered in Bratislava and led by Ľuboš Machaj. History The organization i ...

created a documentary about her life.

Personal life

In 1930 she married a Czech professor Vít Hejný. Their son was the mathematician Milan Hejný.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hejna, Nada 1906 births 1994 deaths Burials at National Cemetery in Martin People from Martin, Slovakia Slovak film actresses Slovak stage actresses 20th-century Slovak actresses Slovak anti-fascists