A history of Czech and Czechoslovakian women during the 19th and 20th centuries.

1. The role of women in the Czech national revival and emancipation movement.

For Czech people living in the Habsburg Empire in the 19 th century there were two main goals: political autonomy for the Czech parts of the Empire, and the adoption of the Czech language.

These goals are somewhat obscure today so a short explanation is in order. The official, as well as the everyday language spoken by educated Czech people and Czech entrepreneurs inside the two Czech provinces called Böhmen ( Bohemia ) and Mähren (Moravia), was German. Germanization started short after the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) and culminated during the first half of the 19 th century. A huge proportion of the intellectual elite consisted of a large group of ethnic Germans who had been living in Czech provinces since the 13 th century. The nationalist sentiments that swept through Europe in the eighteen-hundreds awaked the Czech people to the discovery and admiration of their Slavic past.

While struggling to achieve these goals, the Czechs became more politically conscious. At the same time they discovered that many different political and cultural steps had to be taken along the road in order to achieve the main goals.

The deeds and organizational skills of women such as Magdalena Dorotea Rettigová and Anna Náprstková, active during the 1820’s, contributed to a climate that worked towards the nationalist goals.

Magdalena Dorotea Rettigová (1786 - 1845) was a practical woman who encouraged young girls to become educated and go into businesses as a means of strengthening Czech patriotism. Only by being educated and having knowledge of Czech history, could such girls, through their future roles as mothers, eventually instill in their children pride and compassion for the Czech people. She promoted this vision indefatigably in her own private school, where girls, mainly from poor backgrounds, could obtain free education. Apart from practical instruction of cooking and household work, knowledge expected of girls at this time, they were also taught the Czech language and urged to read books written by Czech writers. Rettigova herself wrote novels for women and contributed short articles to magazines. A foundation for poor girls in the small town of Litomy š l was established by her and continued its task well to the end of the 19 th century. Magadalena Dorotea Rettigov á is today mainly known for her legendary cookery book - "A Household Cookery Book or a Treatise on Meat and Fasting Dishes for Bohemian and Moravian Lasses” . This popular book remained for a long time the only cookery book written in the Czech language and is still in print today, thus it has become one of the historical treasures of the Czech people. Historically, Rettigov á is described as the First Czech Feminist but it should not be forgotten that her view of emancipation was conservative and tradition bound when compared with later generations of women striving for the same goals.

Around 1820, the salon meetings in the Madame Staël spirit, in well-to-do homes became increasingly popular with Czech intellectuals. Many women took part in these gatherings where debates, concerts and theater plays were given. One of these salons inspired the creation of the first schools for girls that was not private. It was called Budec and was set up by Antonie Reissová (1817-1852) (Czech pseudonym Bohuslava Rajská), a teacher by profession. Though the original plans for Budec were somewhat grandiose - the complex of buildings was to include a hospital and shops, the school began its activities in 1844 in a three-flat-apartment building situated in the center of Prague . Some thirty to thirty-five girls between the ages of five to eighteen were given education a few hours every evening. The quality of the teaching was high but financial difficulties forced the school to close down already in 1848.

Shortly after the failed uprising in Prague in1848 (this was a revolutionary year throughout Europe ), the Czech patriotic women met in order to beg clemency for the imprisoned Czech men. At these meetings the newly established Ladies Society for Women’s Education, inspired by the Budec achievements, founded a new girls’ school under the leadership of Svatava Amerlingová (1812-1887) . Although in the beginning, the teaching language used was Czech, repression by the authorities led to its abandonment and eventually bilingual education was offered.

Around the same time the founding of the Slavic Women's Society was proposed by Honorata Winiowská-Zapová (1812-1856) , a Polish woman married to the Czech writer Karel Zap. The aim of this society would be the education of girls in the spirit of Czech nationalism. The Society started its educational program in 1855 but was forced to close down soon after because of the death of Wišniowsk á -Zapov á .

Anna Naprstkov á (1788 -1873) , a business woman who ran a brewery / distillery and an adjoining inn, the U Hal ánk ů , sheltered a growing nationalist movement especially after the revolution year of 1848. Both her sons, Ferdinand and Vojt ě ch, being outspoken nationalists, were often investigated by police. The younger son, Vojt ě ch left home in secret for the United States of America where he finished his law studies. When he returned to Prague , after ten years abroad, his public speeches and presentations about activities established by American women created a wave of admiration and raised the conciseness of many who heard him. Around 1864 he organised an exhibition of American sewing machines (until then unknown in Prague ) together with demonstrations on how to use them. The exhibition was much visited by women.

The American Ladies’ Club or American Club of Bohemian Women (as the Czech name put it “Americk ý klub d á m”), founded by philanthropist Vojtěch Náprstek (1826-1894), which was established 1865 held its first meetings on the premises of U Hal ánk ů .

The club offered lectures, not only on questions of women’s emancipation, but also about other subjects such as astronomy, medicine, biology, philosophy, literature, history and so on. thus contributing to strengthen women’s will for emancipation. The free lectures were given to ladies on Sunday mornings; men were allowed to listen to them from the lobby. During the twenty years of these activities almost 27 000 listeners were registered. The members of the American Ladies’ Club could also use Náprstek´s library which contained, besides Czech books, books written in foreign languages. All these activities brought Vojtěch Náprstek the nickname “the women’s advocate”.

The American Ladies’ Club inspired the creation of similar clubs in provincial towns too. Although the importance of the club gradually diminished towards the end of century, it continued itsactivities long into the 20 th century.

The second half of the 19 th century, as it concerned women in the Czech national revival movement, belonged to the writers.

Božena Němcová (1820 -1862) was one of the few writers at this time that satisfied the spiritual needs of the Czechs. In her most well-known novel “The Grandmother” (“Babi č ka”), Němcová describes the life of a village in the pre-natal period of modern Czech society. The main character of the novel is the writer’s grandmother, whose aims in life and whose moral values were well defined and taken to heart by the village inhabitants. Through her writing, Božena Němcová provided “fairy tales” for a young Czech urban society searching for new values - tales that indicated the values that they should be true to. Her influence may still be felt today as she is known as “Our lady Božena Němcová ” by modern poets.

In hernovel The First Bohemian Woman (“Prvn í Češka”), Karolina Světlá (1830 -1899) described the prejudices held by the large part of Czech society that was not yet in a patriotic frame of mind and that was against the efforts being made to awaken the spirits of Czechs to a more nationalist way of thinking. Světlá, though mainly a poet and writer, was also throughout her active life in the forefront of the intellectual movement in favour of Czech women. In 1870 she was one of the founders of the Czech Women’s Production Association (Ženský výrobní spolek český), which, with the help of donations made by more than two thousands women members and augmented by various grants, supported the Society for the Industrial and Commercial Education of Bohemian Girls founded in 1871. The Society ran practical education courses aimed at spreading knowledge about home industries run by women. After receiving generous grants from the Bohemian Medical Association, the Society founded the first school of nursing in the Habsburg Empire. Another association, “Vesna” with goals similar to the Czech Women’s Production Association was established in Mähren soon afterwards.

Eliška Krásnohorská (1847 -1926) is another woman for whom the Czech revival and emancipation of women were important.Writer, poet, journalist, translator and a friend of many important cultural figures in Bohemia at that time, she chided the composer Bed ř ich Smetana for his faulty use of the Czech language offering him at the same time her own work at librettos for his operas. She subsequently wrote librettos for “Kiss” ( Hubička), “The Devil´s Wall”( Čertova stena) and “Secret” ( Tajemství), which today are beloved treasures of Czech culture.

Eliška Krásnohorská supported and participated actively in the Czech Women’s Production Association and the American Ladies Club. She edited Women’s Letters ( Žensk é listy) a monthly women’s journal which was affiliated to the Czech Women’s Production Association . This was a radical magazine and dealt with education offered in schools run by Associations. It also printed articles on the situation of women in society. In her booklet, TheWomen Question, published in 1870, Eliška Krásnohorská put forward the ideas of equal opportunities for women in education, as well as professional and economic life.

Despite opposition ("God will punish you for this sin against his eternal law. If we continue corrupting Czech girls, you will be doomed," wrote one of her opponents), she successfully propagated for the creation of the first high school for Czech girls which would enable them to continue with university studies. Her petition, signed by 4,810 people, was handed over to the Reichrat (the Habsburg Empire’s Parliament in Vienna ) on March 1890 and the Minerva High School for Girls opened in September 1890 with 51 students. Though the education was excellent, it was not before 1907 that the final exam could be taken in the girls’ school. Up till then, it had to be taken at the nearby boy’s high school. For some years, young women educated at Minerva were not allowed to register for studies at the Habsburg Universities. They could attend the lectures as guests, but were not allowed to sit the exams and subsequently could not obtain a university degree. The only European exception was the University of Zurich . The first Czech lady physician Bohuslava Kecková took her exams there but was not accepted as a member of the medical society when she returned home. It was not until 1897 that women were permitted to attend university in a normal way, first at the faculty of arts and a few years later at the faculty of medicine. The first female Czech-educated physician, Anna Honzáková (1875 -1940) obtained permission to sit her university exams in 1900 after already having attended lectures for five years. Anna Honz á kov á graduated on the 17 th of March 1902 closely watched by proud and cheerful Czech women.

2. The Suffragette movement.

During 1990 a split within the vast group of actively engaged women began. The older and more conservative women propagated mainly for education and participation in cultural and enlightening events for women. This group of women expressed their views and debated in magazines such as Women’s Letters and Women’s Horizon.

Although the question of women’s suffrage, raised by Vojt ě ch N á prstek in a speech at the Prague Council in May 1887, was immediately rejected, it continued to draw attention from more radical segments of society. The Social Democratic party integrated women’s right to vote into its program of 1897. Also, the first Congress of Czech Women, held in May 189 7, appreciative of the good work carried out by the American Ladies’ Club, wanted to bring the women’s suffrage issue to the forefront of the debate.

In 1903, the Czech Women´s club ( Ženský klubu český), was established by those women who were politically active . Besides lectures, very often delivered by newly graduated Czech women, the Women’s Club also spread information about women’s questions outside the capital. The woman behind the Czech Women´s Club, Františka Plamínková (1875 – 1942), was a former teacher of mathematics and physics. She was also a reporter during the Balkan war of 1912. Františka Plamínková, with the help of the Committee for Women´s Suffrage ( V ý bor pro volebn í pr á vo ž en) which started its activities around 1905, took part in the struggle for the vote for women .

The members of this committee discovered that while women were banned from voting, the law did not expressly ban them from being elected. On the basis of this discovery the writer Božena Vítková-Kunětická, was, in 1912, elected as the first female deputy of the Diet of the Czech Kingdom . Though this was viewed as a great success by Czech women, Vítková-Kunětická was never allowed to take her seat in the assembly. Count Thun, the Governor of the Czech provinces forbade her to do so on the grounds that the election laws were unclear.

As in other countries involved in the First World War, women’s capacity for intellectual as well as physical work was well proven when they replaced those men who left to fight. Because of the turmoil of war these abilities were never confirmed in law or in everyday life.

3. The women’s movement in Czechoslovakia . 1918-1938.

After the war, the constitution of the newly created Czechoslovak Republic granted women complete and equal political rights.

The women’s movement during the peace period that lasted for twenty years between the wars during which the democratic Republic of Czechoslovakia existed, centred round the Womens National Council, established by Františka Plamínková in 1923. Another prominent woman engaged in the work for the Women’s National Council was Milada Horáková (1901 – 1950) a lawyer in charge of social and women’s issues with the Prague City Council. Though the Czechoslovak constitution of 1920 gave Czech women full equality, the laws passed down from the Habsburg Empire still discriminated against women in many sectors such as for example the labor market . Thus, the prime task of lawyer Milada Hor á kov á , from her position inside the Women’s National Council, was to take care of proposals for new, more modern laws.

Another woman who dealt with discrimination of women was Františka Zemínková (1882 – 1962) a member of the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party . The ranks of the party were made up of industrial and farm workers as well as shopkeepers and small entrepreneurs. A large proportion of railway workers and state employees were also members. The party had a good following among teachers and the intelligentsia too. The Czechoslovak National Socialist Party was the only party seriously competing with Social Democrats for workers’ votes. Fifteen years old, Franti š ka Zem í nkov á became a member, the same year the party was established in 1897. She was one of the co-founders of the Committee for Women´s Suffrage and later, during the First World War, she was co-organizer of the women’s hunger demonstrations throughout the Czech provinces. Immediately after the establishment of the Republic, she became a member of the first Revolutionary National Assembly 1918-1920 and later a MP for the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party in the Czechoslovak parliament from 1920-1939. As a vice chairman of her party and chairman of the women’s section, Franti š ka Zem í nkov á untiringly worked for women’s rights in society.

Thus all three argued, fought and formulated proposals and legislation, the goals of which were to improve the every-day-life of women. The celibacy imposed on women teachers was abolished in 1918. The tireless fights for the granting of equal rights for women inside of marriage and in professional life were in many cases successfully and became law.

Also the creation of Women’s Homes in Prague-Sm í chov for unmarried women and the house Ve Sme č kách 26, in Prague built by the Women´s ClubBuilding Society, where activities of the Women´s Club were hosted, are two good examples of these successes. The women´s home was partly financed by funds raised by women themselves and designed without cost by woman architect, Milada Petříková-Pavlíková . The home contained an assembly hall, smaller lecture halls, club rooms, a library, a dining hall and accommodations. The Women´s Club used the opportunities afforded by the many activities practiced there to teach practical democracy through lectures, debates, seminars, concerts and foreign language teaching. These possibilities were also offered to other women’s organisations working inside the republic.

All of these women, Plam í nková, Zem í nkov á and Milada Hor á kov á also took part in women’s conferences around Europe . Františka Plam í nková became vice president of the International Woman’s Council after she twice held a speech on women rights in the League of Nations in Geneva .

Valuable supporters for these improvements were Charlotte Garrigue Masaryk(1850-1923), the wife of the first Czechoslovakian president and her daughter Alice Masaryk (1879-1966).

Charlotte Garrigue was born In Brooklyn , New York . After marrying university professor Thomas Masaryk in 1878, she rapidly learned the Czech language, studied Czech literature, history and music and became a striking personality in the intellectual life of Prague . The Czech women’s movement at that time attracted her attention and she decided to lend it her support by translating into Czech the book Subjection of Women written by John Stuart Mill. It was only natural that she should influence her husband with the Czech women’s striving for gender equality. Charlotte co-authored his book Polygamy and Monogamy , in which he spoke up for women’s equality. Thomas Masaryk admitted at a later occasion that he was “only a peddler” of his wife’s thoughts concerning women’s rights.

During a worker’s demonstration in 1906, Charlotte Garrigue Masaryk made open demands for free and equal suffrage together with a secret ballot.

At the outbreak of the great war of 1914, when her husband stayed abroad trying to advance the cause of Czech liberation through the Czechoslovak National Council the Habsburg authorities held the family under close surveillance. The daughter, Alice Masaryk was arrested and sentenced to death on suspicion of her nationalist activities. The sentence was later reduced to twelve years incarceration. Fortunately, through pressure from the American government, Alice Masaryk was released from prison after having served only eight months.

Alice was a well educated young woman who attended the Minerva grammar school before taking up studies at the Faculty of Medicine from which she later decided to change to the faculty of Arts. She graduated as a doctor of History in 1903. After Czechoslovakia attained independent, Alice Masaryk was elected as a deputy to the National Assembly. In February 1919 she was one of the founders of the Czechoslovak Red Cross. She remained the chairwomen of this organization for the next twenty years. Alice Masaryk also chaired the Committee of the Worldwide Conference of Social Workers, wasinvolved in the temperance movement, helped establish Mother´s Day in Czechoslovakia and instigated Red Cross EasterSilence in 1926.

Of course there have been other types of women, who did not follow the conventions of that time. Throughout their lives, these women established a new set of behavioural rules and new standards for the appearance of women. One such woman was Milena Jesenská (1896-1942).

After her studies at Minerva grammar school where she was known as being one of the most highly emancipated girls, Milena began to write and became renowned as a woman journalist writing for one of the major Czech morning papers. Of course Milena did have good support from her aunts. One of them was a translator of English, the other, a novelist who dared to treat the women’s point of view on eroticism in her writing, something that was extremely courageous and outrageous to do at the time.

In the twenties, when Milena, together with her friends, swept through the streets of Prague with their hair flying freely, without the habitual corset, dressed in bright-coloured clothes, their legs bare of stockings and their bare feet stuck into comfortable sandals - so clearly influenced by the dancer Isador Ducan they were subjects for gossip. Times were definitely changing however and women such as Milena saw themselves as equals in society with the rights to have and to express their own views as well as to show their unimpeded feelings and spirits.

Then there was Eliška Junková(1900 -1994) “the Czech racing queen of the Jazz Age”!

Knowledgeable in German, English and French and co-driver with her lover, Vincent “Cenek” Junek, she was known as “sm í šek” because of the ever-present smile which graced her lips. She dreamt as young of visiting far-off places but remained instead with her husband to take part in car races. At first they took part in races in Czechoslovakia only but later they started to compete throughout Europe . In 1923, her husband presented her with a cigar-shaped racing car, an Italian Bugatti. By 1926 Eliška’s skills as a racing driver had developed to such an extent that she was quite able to compete against the best male drivers in races all over Europe.

Her capability of memorizing a course by walking around it before the event turned her technical driving skills into successes. In the Targa Florio race in Sicily , she carefully noted all 1500 bends in the sixty-seven-mile-long course which helped her beat many other drivers. Her greatest success however was winning a trophy at the Nuremberg ring in Germany . In 1928 her husband Cenek was killed in their brand new Bugatti at the German Grand Prix in which he was sharing the driving with Eliska. Devastated by the loss, she gave up racing and sold off all their racing cars.

Later Eliška set out for Ceylon with her new touring car given to her by Ettore Bugatti.

4. The occupation of Czechoslovakia, 1939-1945.

In 1938, the Munich Pact signed by France , Great Britain , Italy and Germany gave a vital one third of Czechoslovakia , inhabited mostly by German-speaking Czechs, to Hitler’s Third Reich. At this time Františka Plam í nková wrote an open letter to Adolf Hitler in which she used an often quoted phrase, “…with unshaken belief that despite military supremacy the “truth prevails” …..” (“Truth Prevails” has been the motto of the state of Czechoslovakia from its creation in 1918). On the 15 th of March 1939 , the rest of what remained of the Czech parts of Czechoslovakia was incorporated into the Protectorate of Böhmen und Märhren by the occupying German forces. Františka Plam í nková was imprisoned immediately after the occupation. However, international outcry forced the Germans to release her this time. The first resistance against the occupation was carried out by officers from the disbanded Czech army and the members of the gymnastic movement Sokol, many of whom were women.

In May 1942, Reichsprotecter Reinhard Heydrich, was assassinated by Czech commandos sent from Great Britain . During the process of hunting down the hidden parachutes, 1,331 Czechs, among them more than 200 women, were caught and executed. It is appropriate to name at least a few of these women if only to commemorate their memories: Liboslava Fafková (1921-1942), Milada Frantová (1906-1942), Tatána Hladěnová (1920-1942), Věra Junková (1917-1942), Marie Moravcová (1898-1942) and Jindriška Nováková (1928-1942) . Among the killed was also Františka Plam í nková who was rearrested and executed by Nazi firing squad in Prague-Kobylisy on 30 th of June 1942. Many others were condemned to a life of misery and horror in concentration camps and Nazi prisons. Milada Horáková was one of these unfortunates as was Milena Jesenská who died in Ravensbrück in 1944.

5. The communist took power in Czechoslovakia in February 1948.

After the communist takeover on 28 th of February 1948 all women’s organization were forbidden or, if suitable, were incorporated into the communist dominated Czechoslovakian Women’s Association ( Č eskoslovensk ý svaz ž en). At the same time, all properties owned by women’s organizations were confiscated through the process of nationalisation. Women’s questions were now considered to be solved by a superior Marxist doctrine that made all people, including the two genders, equal.

I feel it appropriate that the last words in this resume should go to two women I mentioned previously in this article. Franti š ka Zem í nková together with Milada Horáková were arrested by the communist authorities in 1949 and put on trial in 1950. They were unjustly charged with high treason and espionage in one of the so called “communist trials”, with which the Czechoslovak authorities indulged themselves during the 1950’s. Franti š ka Zem í nková was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment. She was released from prison by presidential amnesty in 1960 only to die shortly afterwards. Milada Horáková was sentenced to death and hanged immediately after the trial in June 1950.

Written by Dalibor Svoboda