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Anna Čalounová-Letenská (
née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
Anna Svobodová) (29 August 1904 – 24 October 1942) was a
Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...
theatre and film actress. During the 1930s and 40s, she appeared in twenty-five films. She was murdered in the
Nazi concentration camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...
of Mauthausen. Fikejz (2007), p. 52 Motl (2006), p. 121


Biography


Early career

Anna Letenská was born in
Nýřany Nýřany (; ) is a town in Plzeň-North District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,000 inhabitants. Administrative division Nýřany consists of three municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census): ...
,
Plzeň Region Plzeň Region or Plzeňský Region (also known as Pilsen Region; ) is an Regions of the Czech Republic, administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the western part of the historical land of Bohemia and named after the capital, Plz ...
,
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...
. She was brought up in a theatrical environment - both of her parents, Marie Svobodová (1871–1960) and Oldřich Svoboda (died 1939), and her sister, Růžena Nováková (1899–1984), were actors. She made her first appearance on stage at an early age. Letenská began her professional stage career in 1919 as a member of the Suková-Kramulová theatre company and went on to work with theatre companies in
České Budějovice České Budějovice (; ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 97,000 inhabitants. The city is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is the largest ...
(1920–29),
Olomouc Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region. Located on the Morava (rive ...
(1930–31),
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. ...
(1931–35), and
Kladno Kladno (; ) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 70,000 inhabitants. It is the largest city in the region and has a rich industrial history. Administrative division Kladno consists of six municipal parts ...
(1935–36). Fikejz (2007), p. 51 While working with the theatre company of Otto Alfredi she met and befriended the
operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...
actor Ludvík Hrdlička, who performed under the stage name "Letenský". They wed in January 1925 and the following year had a son, Jiří (who later himself worked as an actor and radio speaker). However, the marriage was not a happy one and they divorced in 1940. They had previously moved to Prague in 1936 where after a series of short-term engagements Letenská found employment with the Vinohrady Theatre (1939–42). She performed in Czech and world theatre repertoire and was known for her comic performances in the role of down-to-earth, energetic women characters. Letenská's film debut was in (1937). In her next film, (1938), she appeared alongside her husband. She was able to exploit her talent for comedy in the film , which is regarded as the starting-point of her successful film career. Her career in the cinema was more varied than her theatre career, with appearances in minor and major roles as maidservants, concierges, aunties, wives and mothers. However it was a short one, lasting only from 1937 to 1942. This was the period of the
German occupation of Czechoslovakia German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
and the start of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
in Europe.


World War II

On 27 May 1942, in an action known as
Operation Anthropoid Reinhard Heydrich, the commander of the German Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), the acting governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and a principal architect of the Holocaust, was assassinated during the Second World War in a coordin ...
, two Czechoslovak parachutists,
Jozef Gabčík Jozef Gabčík (; 8 April 1912 – 18 June 1942) was a Slovak soldier in the Czechoslovak Army involved in the Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of acting ''Reichsprotektor'' (Realm-Protector) of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ...
and
Jan Kubiš Jan Kubiš (24 June 1913 – 18 June 1942) was a Czech soldier, one of a team of Czechoslovak British-trained paratroopers sent to eliminate acting Reichsprotektor (Realm-Protector) of Bohemia and Moravia, SS-''Obergruppenführer'' Reinhard H ...
, ambushed and fatally wounded
Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( , ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a German high-ranking SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He held the rank of SS-. Many historians regard Heydrich ...
, Deputy Reich-Protector of the
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was a partially-annexation, annexed territory of Nazi Germany that was established on 16 March 1939 after the Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945), German occupation of the Czech lands. The protector ...
, while he was being driven through the Prague suburb of
Libeň Libeň () is a cadastral area and district of Prague, Czech Republic. It was incorporated into Prague in 1901. Places * Praha-Libeň railway station Demographics People * Reinhard Heydrich, assassinated here * Herz Homberg, born here ...
. The Nazis embarked on a large-scale operation to find and capture the assassins. They searched the whole of
Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...
and
Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...
, investigating over 4,750,000 inhabitants and combing 60 large forest areas. Motl (2006), p. 116 One of the assassins, Kubiš, had been wounded in the face by a fragment of the bomb thrown at Heydrich's car. He escaped and was helped by MUDr. Břetislav Lyčka, who lived in the Karlín district of Prague. After Karel Čurda's betrayal of his Resistance colleagues and friends, Lyčka and his wife Františka Lyčková were forced to split up and find separate places to hide. At the time Letenská was working on the film , directed by
Otakar Vávra Otakar Vávra (28 February 1911 – 15 September 2011) was a Czech film director, screenwriter and pedagogue. Biography and career Vávra attended universities in Brno and Prague, where he studied architecture. During 1929–30, while still a stud ...
. In 1941, she had married the architect Vladislav Čaloun. Prior to the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, Čaloun had been involved in helping people persecuted by Hlinka's
Slovak People's Party Andrej Hlinka, Hlinka's Slovak People's Party (), also known as the Slovak People's Party (, SĽS) or the Hlinka Party, was a far-right Clerical fascism, clerico-fascist political party with a strong Catholic fundamentalism, Catholic fundamental ...
. His activities came to the notice of the party's extremist supporters and he was expelled from
Slovakia 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 m ...
in 1939. In Prague, Čaloun continued working to help people threatened by the Nazi régime leave the country. He and his new wife became friends with the Lyčkas. Both Čaloun and Dr. Lyčka were members of the illegal organisation called and were closely connected with the group helping Heydrich's assassins. According to the original version of events, Letenská gave shelter to Františka Lyčková. Motl (2006), p. 117 However, according to the subsequent account given by the Czech actor
Svatopluk Beneš Svatopluk Beneš (24 February 1918 – 27 April 2007) was a Czechoslovak film actor. He appeared in 90 films and television shows between 1934 and 2003. Selected filmography * '' Pacientka Dr. Hegla'' (1940) * '' Pohádka máje'' (1940) * ' ...
, Letenská told him a different version of the story. She had gone to a wine bar with her second husband where they met a man who introduced himself as a friend of Čaloun's brother and asked if they could give him a bed for one night. According to Beneš, the man was apparently Doctor Lyčka. Motl (2006), p. 117-118 Despite being helped by Letenská and her husband, Lyčková was soon arrested by the
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, 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 F ...
. After being tortured, she revealed the secret identity and whereabouts of her husband. Lyčka committed suicide in a cellar in Ouběnice, shortly before his arrest. Letenská came under suspicion of helping the assassins. Motl (2006), p. 118 Surprisingly, only her husband was arrested and Letenská was allowed to remain at large, purportedly because she was one of the stars of the still unfinished movie . Miloš Havel (uncle of the former Czech President
Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and dissident. Havel served as the last List of presidents of Czechoslovakia, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissol ...
), an influential producer at the
Barrandov Studios Barrandov Studios is a set of film studios in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the largest film studio in the country and one of the largest in Europe. Barrandov has made several major Hollywood productions, including ''Mission: Impossible (film), ...
, is said to have intervened to prevent her arrest so that the film could be completed. Havel was the owner of Lucernafilm, producers of the film. Motl (2006), p. 119. Letenská remained under Gestapo surveillance while filming continued. According to Otakar Vávra, the film's director, "throughout this time Anna Letenská would sit with her head held between her hands although she appeared as cheerful as could be in front of the camera. We understood that she was preparing herself to die."


Imprisonment and death

Once production of the film had been completed, Letenská was arrested and imprisoned. Accounts of her last days in Prague differ. Her colleague, the actor Antonín Strnad, said that Letenská was arrested and then shortly after that she was released very briefly, only so that she could terminate her contract of employment at the Vinohrady Theatre. Strnad met her in the theatre, in tears. Motl (2006), pp. 120-121 Another actor,
František Filipovský František Filipovský (23 September 1907 – 26 October 1993) was a Czechoslovak stage, television, and film actor. Life and career Early life and theatre Filipovský was born on 23 September 1907 in the Czech town of Přelouč, then part of ...
, claimed that he was probably the last person who talked to her. He met her in a tram at
Wenceslas Square Wenceslas Square (Czech language, Czech: , colloquially ''Václavák'' ; German language, German: ''Wenzelsplatz'') is one of the main city squares and the centre of the business and cultural communities in the New Town, Prague, New Town of Pr ...
and asked: "Where are you going, Anka?" She replied: "Ah, they summoned me to an interrogation at Gestapo, again. What could they ask me?" Then she got out of the tram and vanished into the crowd. "I never saw her again", Filipovský said. The final version tells how Letenská was arrested by the German interrogator Heinz Jantur on 3 September 1942. She dropped a little talisman as she was getting into a Gestapo car. It was a picture of a Czech landscape. The German officers allowed her to pick it up; Letenská kissed the picture, and got into the car. According to Strnad, she gave the talisman to her cellmates shortly before her execution. She asked them, if they survived, to give it to the actors at the theatre. One of the camp inmates is said to have brought the picture to the theatre after the war. Letenská was briefly imprisoned in Pankrác Prison before being taken to
Theresienstadt concentration camp Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination c ...
on 5 October 1942. On 23 October, she was transported to Mauthausen along with a group of 135 women and girls referred to as "the parachutists" (they were relatives of Heydrich's assassins or otherwise linked to the assassination). On arrival in the camp they were taken to the camp bathrooms where they were turned over to the privileged criminal inmates for their amusement. The next day they were taken to a "consulting room" in the camp for a medical examination. The consulting room, located in a building referred to as "the bunker", was in fact an execution chamber (in German: ) masquerading as a medical facility. The women were brought to the room one by one for their supposed examination and then shot there at two-minute intervals. Anna Letenská was shot in the head in the bunker at 10:56 on 24 October 1942. Her name and the date of her execution were carefully recorded by German officials. Letenská's husband Vladislav Čaloun was shot on 26 January 1943, at 16:45. The film was premiered two months after her death. The novel (''The Hangman Won't Wait'', 1958) by Norbert Frýd was inspired by Anna Letenská's life story. A film adaptation of the novel was made in 1971 starring Jiřina Bohdalová. A street in the
Vinohrady Vinohrady (until 1960 Královské Vinohrady, in English literally "Royal Vineyards" ) is a cadastral district in Prague. It is so named because the area was once covered in vineyards dating from the 14th century. Vinohrady lies in the municipal ...
district of Prague is named after Anna Letenská.


Selected theatre roles

* 1937 - Guest performance in the play ''Těžká Barbora'', Osvobozené divadlo ( V+ W), directed by Jindřich Honzl Holzknecht (2007), p. 201 * 1939 - Heinrich von Kleist: '' The Broken Jug'', Frau Marthe, Vinohrady Theatre, directed by František Salzer * 1939 -
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
: ''
The Merry Wives of Windsor ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' or ''Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1602, though believed to have been written in or before 1597. The Windsor of the play's title is a ref ...
'', Vinohrady Theatre, directed by Bohuš Stejskal * 1939 - A. Pacovská: , Marie, Vinohrady Theatre, directed by Jiří Plachý * 1940 - Josef Kajetán Tyl: , Kordula, Vinohrady Theatre, directed by Gabriel Hart * 1940 - K. R. Krpata: , Katovka-Rosina, Vinohrady Theatre, directed by František Salzer * 1940 -
Gerhart Hauptmann Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann (; 15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of Naturalism (literature), literary naturalism, though he integrated other styles into h ...
: '' The Beaver Coat'', Mother Wolff, Vinohrady Theatre, directed by František Salzer * 1941 - Alexander Ostrovsky: '' The Storm'', Varvara, Vinohrady Theatre, directed by František Salzer * 1941 - A. Pacovská: , Pelikánová, Vinohradské divadlo, Vinohrady Theatre, directed by Jiří Plachý * 1941 - Lila Bubelová: , Marie Poustecká, Chamber Theater, directed by Antonín Kandert * 1941 -
Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...
: ''
Ecclesiazusae ''Assemblywomen'' (Ancient Greek: Ἐκκλησιάζουσαι ''Ekklesiazousai''; also translated as, ''Congresswomen'', ''Women in Parliament'', ''Women in Power'', ''A Parliament of Women, Assembly-Women,'' and ''Women in the Assembly'') is ...
'', Praxagora, Theatre Na poříčí, directed by Jiří Plachý


Films

* 2009 - Fred Breinersdorfer: Andula, Besuch in einem anderen Leben', documentary, movie, 2009, director: Fred Breinersdorfer, with Hannah Herzsprung, WDR, RBB,
arte Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...
* 2009 - Fred Breinersdorfer Spiel ums Leben, TV-documentary, 2009, WDR, RBB,
arte Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...


Selected film roles

* 1937 - , housemaid, directed by Miloslav Jareš * 1938 - , directed by Miroslav Cikán, Karel Lamač * 1938 - * 1939 - , directed by Václav Kubásek * 1939 - * 1940 - , directed by František Čáp * 1940 - , directed by Jan Alfréd Holman * 1940 - , directed by Vladimír Borský * 1941 - , directed by Karel Špelina * 1941 - , directed by Miroslav Cikán * 1942 - , directed by
Martin Frič Martin Frič (29 March 1902 – 26 August 1968) was a Czech film director, screenwriter and actor. He had more than 100 directing credits between 1929 and 1968, including feature films, shorts and documentary films. Throughout his life, F ...
* 1942 - , directed by Vladimír Slavínský * 1942 - , directed by Václav Binovec * 1942 - , directed by
Otakar Vávra Otakar Vávra (28 February 1911 – 15 September 2011) was a Czech film director, screenwriter and pedagogue. Biography and career Vávra attended universities in Brno and Prague, where he studied architecture. During 1929–30, while still a stud ...


Notes


References

* * *


External links


Anna Letenská at Czech and Slovak Film Database
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Letenska, Anna 1904 births 1942 deaths People from Nýřany People from the Kingdom of Bohemia Czech stage actresses Czech film actresses 20th-century Czech actresses Czechoslovak civilians killed in World War II People who died in Mauthausen concentration camp Czech people executed in Nazi concentration camps Executed Czech people People executed by Nazi Germany by firearm