Zdeňka Pokorná (6 April 1905 – 3 March 2007) was a

Czechoslovak Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) **Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) **Fourth Czechoslovak Repub ...

teacher and patriot. She was hailed on her 90th birthday as the "living conscience of the century" by the Czech Government. She opposed the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

and

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

occupations of her homeland and 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 ...

she was forced into exile to the United Kingdom, where she lived the rest of her life.

Biography

Born in

Břeclav Břeclav (; german: Lundenburg) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 24,000 inhabitants. Administrative parts Town parts of Charvátská Nová Ves and Poštorná are administrative parts of Břeclav. Etymol ...

in 1905, Pokorná was a member of the anti-Nazi Czech Resistance Movement who, following the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, helped a group of people to escape to Yugoslavia. Shortly after she was arrested by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

, probably as a result of information from an informer, and was sentenced to life imprisonment spending the rest of the war in various prisons and surviving a Death March in 1945.Zdeňka Pokorná in ''The Heart of Europe''- (2009) pg 16
/ref> Expelled from her position as headmistress in Břeclav after the

because of her anti-Soviet stance, she avoided impending arrest by escaping to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. Her political activities during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

gained her the right to asylum in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

where she retrained as a psychiatric nurse, and from here she continued both her anti-communist campaigning and her work for Czechoslovak expatriate organisations including the Association of Czechoslovak Legionaries. Pokorná was awarded the Czechoslovak Order of Merit (First Class) by President

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and former dissident. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 and then as ...

for her outstanding work for her home country and for upholding the ideals of freedom. For the remainder of her life Pokorná lived in the United Kingdom but never relinquished her Czech nationality. Zdeňka Pokorná died in London in 2007 aged 101 and was cremated at

Honor Oak Honor Oak is an inner suburban area principally of the London Borough of Lewisham, with part in the London Borough of Southwark. It is named after the oak tree on One Tree Hill that Elizabeth I is reputed to have picnicked under. Overview One Tr ...

Crematorium following which her ashes were buried in the Czechoslovak section of Brookwood Cemetery in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

.Zdenka Pokorna - obituary
in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' 23 March 2007Zdenka Pokorna
on the Brookwood Cemetery website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pokorna, Zdenka 1905 births 2007 deaths People from Břeclav Czechoslovak emigrants to the United Kingdom Czechoslovak democracy activists Czech resistance members Czech centenarians Burials at Brookwood Cemetery Women centenarians Czech schoolteachers Nurses from London