In front of the Chamber of Deputies stands a new monument to Milada Horáková

Prague - A new memorial to Milada Horáková stands in front of the Chamber of Deputies. This afternoon, the memorial was ceremoniously unveiled by the author of the monument, sculptor Josef Faltus, and doctor Martin Jan Stránský, who worked for over three years for its creation. The monument was financed through a public fundraising campaign. Deputy Horáková was executed by the communist regime in 1950, making her the only woman in the history of the political trials of the 1950s in then-Czechoslovakia.

The monument symbolically stands at Pětikostelní Square at the end of Sněmovní Street. "I believe it will speak particularly strongly in this place to those who make decisions," said Anna Matoušková, Deputy Minister of Culture.

Twenty-three artists participated in the competition. The winner, Josef Faltus, depicted the memorial as a pen for the accused in a courtroom with a microphone on which a bird sits. "Its symbolism emphasizes the poetic motif of the bird, which is usually a mediator between the earthly and the celestial worlds," said Jaromír Zemina, the chairman of the expert jury that selected the work. According to him, the number and quality of the proposals indicate that artists were aware of the significance of the monument.

The lawyer and national socialist deputy Milada Horáková was hanged for alleged espionage and treason in 1950 based on a verdict in a fabricated trial. Along with her, 12 other people were tried, who allegedly formed a spy center.

Milada Horáková participated in the anti-Nazi resistance during World War II. She actively opposed the communist regime as well. "She was not afraid to speak her mind. She was one of the leading figures of the national socialists and was a prominent politician of her time," characterized her historian Libor Svoboda from the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes.

In honor of Horáková, a monument with a bust was created in Prague in 2009 in a park at Hrdinů Square in Prague 4, near the building of the Pankrác Prison and Court. Another statue of her is also planned to be unveiled by Prague 2, which is to be placed in Ztracenka Park near the New Town Walls at Albertov.