Ludmila Brožová-Polednová (born Ludmila Biedermannová; 20 December 1921 – 15 January 2015) 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 ...

state

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

(

public procurator A public procurator () is an officer of a state charged with both the investigation and prosecution of crime. The office is a feature of a civil law inquisitorial rather than common law adversarial system. Countries such as Japan, China, Russia, ...

) sentenced at age 86 in September 2008 to six years' imprisonment for her participation in the

show trial A show trial is a public trial in which the guilt (law), guilt or innocence of the defendant has already been determined. The purpose of holding a show trial is to present both accusation and verdict to the public, serving as an example and a d ...

s of

Milada Horáková Milada Horáková (born: Králová, 25 December 1901 – 27 June 1950) was a Czech politician and a member of the underground resistance movement during World War II. She was a victim of judicial murder, convicted and executed by the Communis ...

and others in 1950, which led to at least four executions. Brožová-Polednová was the only person sentenced in association with the political purges and repressions conducted by the ruling Communist Party in Czechoslovakia in the 1950s.

Biography

Biedermannová was born in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

in 1921. From 1948 until 1949, she studied at the Workers' Law School (

: ''Právnická škola pracujících''). In summer 1950, Biedermannová participated as a "workers' prosecutor" in a show trial against a , which was allegedly led by

, an opposition politician and former prisoner of Nazi concentration camps. The trial resulted in four death sentences and four life sentences. Brožová-Polednová, a colleague of

Josef Urválek JUDr. Josef Urválek (28 April 1910, České Budějovice – 29 November 1979, Prague) was a procurator and later judge of the Czechoslovak state court. He is known for his participation in the political processes in socialist Czechoslovakia du ...

and others, actively participated in the trial and was present during the execution itself.

Záviš Kalandra Záviš Kalandra (10 November 1902 – 27 June 1950) was a Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak historian, theatre critic and theorist of literature. He was born in Frenštát pod Radhoštěm. He studied philosophy at the Charles University in Prague and ...

, , and were the other victims of the trial. The trial was later called "one of the most atrocious events in the nation's history" by

Czech Television Czech Television ( ; abbreviation: ČT) is a public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic, broadcasting six channels. Established after breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1992, it is the successor to Czechoslovak Television founded in 1953. H ...

. In 1952, she graduated from the Faculty of Law of

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

in Prague and later worked in

Plzeň Plzeň (), also known in English and German as Pilsen (), is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about west of P ...

. As the sole surviving participant of the trial, Brožová-Polednová was charged and tried in 2008 after the fall of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia. She was sentenced to six years' imprisonment, beginning March 2009 at . At that time, she was the oldest jailed person in the country. She was released by an amnesty granted by President

Václav Klaus Václav Klaus (; born 19 June 1941) is a Czech economist and politician who served as the second president of the Czech Republic from 2003 to 2013. From July 1992 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in January 1993, he served as the second ...

in December 2010, due to her age and health.

Death

Brožová-Polednová died on 15 January 2015 in Prague at the age of 93. However, news of her death was announced only on 24 January.

Biography

Death

References

Further reading