Zoe Klusáková-Svobodová
Zoe Klusáková-Svobodová in 2009
Born
Zoe Klusáková

4 December 1925
Uzhhorod, Czechoslovakia
Died12 December 2022(2022-12-12) (aged 97)
Alma materCzech Technical University in Prague
Occupation(s)Economist, academic, translator
SpouseMilan Klusák (m. 1949–1992; his death)
ChildrenLuďa Klusáková
Parent(s)Ludvík Svoboda
Irena Svobodová
AwardsState Defense Cross

Zoe Klusáková-Svobodová (4 December 1925 – 12 December 2022) was a Czech economist, academic, writer and translator. She was the daughter of Ludvík Svoboda, the President of Czechoslovakia from 1968 to 1975, and the widow of Czechoslovak diplomat, Milan Klusák.[1][2][3]

Biography

Klusáková-Svobodová was born in the city of Uzhhorod, Czechoslovakia (present-day Ukraine), on 4 December 1925.[1] She was the youngest of two children, including her older brother, Miroslav. Her father, Ludvík Svoboda, was a general who would later become President of Czechoslovakia during the Communist era from 1968 to 1975. Her mother, Irena Svobodová (née Stratilová), became the First Lady of Czechoslovakia.[1]

Her father, General Ludvík Svoboda, went into exile during the Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945) by Nazi Germany and the outbreak of World War II, while Zoe Klusáková-Svobodová remained in occupied Czechoslovakia with her mother and brother.[1] The entire family joined the Czechoslovak resistance to Nazi occupation, specifically aiding Czechoslovak and foreign paratroopers who landed near Dřínov.[1] However, the family and the larger resistance cell were discovered by the Gestapo, forcing Klusáková-Svobodová to flee into hiding in the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands of southern Moravia from 1941 until the end of occupation in 1945.[1] She and her mother first lived in hiding in the village of Hroznatín before moving to Džbánice for the remainder of the war.[1] Her brother, Miroslav, was captured by the Nazis and died in the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria.[1]

Klusáková-Svobodová accounts of World War II and her involvement with the Czech resistance are archived in the Memory of Nations, an oral history initiative created by Post Bellum, a Czech nonprofit.[1]

Klusáková-Svobodová became an economist and a notable Czech-Russian translator. She taught at the Faculty of Law at Charles University in Prague.[1] She also devoted considerable effort to preserving the legacy of her parents, Ludvík Svoboda and Irena Svobodová, including as honorary chairwoman of the Ludvík Svoboda Society.[1][2]

Her daughter, Czech historian Luďa Klusáková, died in 2020.[3]

Awards and recognitions

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Zoe Klusáková-Svobodová 1925-2022". Memory of Nations. Post Bellum. 12 December 2022. Archived from the original on 27 December 2022. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Zoe Klusáková – Svobodová se dožívá úctyhodného věku". Denik. 12 January 2020. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  3. 1 2 Jancura, Vladimir (28 December 2022). "Zoe znamená život. Dcéra generála Ludvíka Svobodu ho mala dramatický". Pravda (Slovakia). Archived from the original on 29 December 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  4. ↑ "Na Vítkově vojáci vzdali hold válečným veteránům. Osm jich dostalo vyznamenání". ČT24. 11 November 2019.
  5. ↑ В посольстве РФ в Праге вручены медали чешским ветеранам
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